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Show Planned to death How much planning is really necessary? During the last decade planning has become the number one industry. State ! j and federal agencies and all I levels of government are ' 1 involved in planning, to the I point that it ls their number I one function, j Today industry must ln- ; 1 volve Itself in so much plan ning that many projects are made uneconomical or delayed de-layed until they are no I longer feasible. Is all this planning necessary? neces-sary? ! Beaver County became in volved in planning in 1970 with their first Master Plan, j Along came alunlte, and ! Earth Science, Inc. did a social economic study, and a preliminary environmental i impact statement. BLM got I Involved with a draft EE and a Final EB.Before that was completed Beaver Co. I did their own alunlte 1 plan. Naturally these plans made the just completed Master Plan obsolete. By the time all the planningwas done, the cost of the alunite project had more than doubled doubl-ed and the project was not feasible. Milford was Involved In all of the above plans but has also instituted several plans for themselves such as the sewer and water plan, the 701 planning, and are presently pres-ently in the process of updating up-dating the Master Plan. What are all of these plans worth? Each cost many thousands of dollars. While they are mostly funded by federal or state agencies each still costs local taxpayers tax-payers directly, as well as . Indirectly through federal Income tax. Their worth is that they are a necessary requirement for application for federal or state funding. fund-ing. They do notguarantee fund ing of grants or loans. The applications are shuffled back and forth from one agency to another. And each time application is made, the plans must be updated. A major project such as opening a mine, a power plant or any major development develop-ment requires from 10 to 20 years to acquire the necessary neces-sary permits, planning, and environmental impact statements. state-ments. The time factor alone is enough to discourage all but giant corporations. The Inflation factor can easily change a feasible project into one which is not feasible feasi-ble after all the planning requirements re-quirements are completed. The UJS. ls faced with a mineral and energy crisis that could quickly be solved by private industry. But they can't turn a wheel until un-til all the planning is done. And given half a chance, they will be planned to death! |