Strategic Shutdowns of Air Quality Monitors: Evidence from Jersey City and Across the U.S.

Virtual Seminar
Washington, DC 20460
United States

Contact: Carl Pasurka, 202-566-2275 ([email protected])

Presenter:  Eric Zou (Department of Economics, University of Oregon)

Description:  Tolerance for gaps in environmental compliance monitoring data may induce strategic timing in local agencies’ monitoring activity. This paper presents a framework to test whether local governments skip pollution monitoring in expectation of a looming air quality deterioration. We infer expectation from air quality alerts – public advisories based on local governments’ own pollution forecasts – and test if air quality monitor’s sampling rate falls during these alerts. We first use the method to test a particulate matter monitor in Jersey City which was suspected to have been disabled during the 2013 Bridgegate traffic jam. Consistent with strategic shutdowns, we find that the monitor’s sampling rate drops by 33% on days when Jersey City’s pollution alerts are in place. Building on large-scale inference tools, we then apply the method to test over 1,300 monitors across the U.S., finding at least 14 metro areas with clusters of monitors showing similar behavior. We discuss imputation methods that may help deter strategic monitoring.

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