Preliminary Stated-Preference Research on the Impact of LUST Sites on Property Values: Focus Group Results

The purpose of this research effort is to examine the feasibility of designing a stated preference instrument to elicit the public’s willingness-to-pay (WTP) for remediation of leaking underground storage tank (LUST) sites (or perhaps prevention of releases). Nearly 500,000 releases have been documented from the over 600,000 USTs nationwide. Approximately 80 percent of these sites have been cleaned up. In the three Maryland counties that are the focus of this and the companion hedonic property value study there have been nearly 400 documented releases in the last 10 years. We report the results from four focus groups and four three-on-one interviews conducted in Maryland. The results of this focus group research provide a foundation for development of a stated preference study of the benefits of EPA’s UST program.