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Show Western Resources WRAP-UP )k Energy impact area aid ' By Helene C. Monberg J1"! am a frustrated man. ..Sometime d ? he mid to late 1980's...the Rocky e "intain West and Appalachia will be as ted with new energy develop-1 develop-1 thefts. There will be great strains on Ani isocial fabric and perhaps as many ratior. 00-400 or more communities in both !ntS;ions. And Congressional Com-e Com-e Alaiiees will still be discussing and lerS!:ng testimony on the question of sngither we need energy impact aid" 'Vfesuch communities and impacted ife P'is. Sen. Gary Hart, D-Colo., at lastt-ing of a Senate Energy Sub-ithmittee Sub-ithmittee 3-12-80. ashington A small, Spartan-run m:ral program providing modest ma rits for energy impact assistance to lor '.cted communities and areas is in ration at the U.S. Department of ame-iculture while Congress is unable to to i its act together on a major Disirfram. 3eW::is being run by Paul R. Kugler, a s-nfcr federal employee as Assistant cl(saiiiinistrator for area Development by instance, with a staff of about 10 ;xpeti)le here in the Fanners Home linistration (FHA) of the U.S. l a artment of Agriculture. During the Ktt; two fiscal years it has provided 'ar lest grants totalling $51,457,000 to 91 we "roved designated areas in 24 states, ty ,, th a little over $10 million g aining to be obligated this (1980) nt will1 year in A"1'" Ku&er toId xpi0f'tern Resources Wrap-up (WRW) on iska; :' 23- vital tie aid under the area development id Instance program is limited to g downing grants to improve capacity in js fining at the local level and to , wou''iding site acquisition and site jlopment grants to qualifying states local governments. It was lorized under Section 601 of the .x.v.v: er Plant and Industrial Fuel Use of 1978 to provide aid to local areas acted by coal and uranium I ilopments. out 60 percent of the aid has gone .ppalachia under the program to ;rs fro; about one-third to coal-producing a Uinis in the Rocky Mountain West and tents hern Great Plains, with the sjveh aining amounts allocated turejvhere, primarily to Texas. ters b thority for the program runs out at i ottand of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, but expected to continue to be funded ' mm t( operate v annual ap-riations. ap-riations. Congress provided $20 on for it in fiscal year 1979, about ... lillion in 1980, and it is expected to 'Vtween $75 million and $80 million Midyear, according to FHA's best red in Actions. The Department of Energy eDjE) funding bill for fiscal year 1980 o abided $42 million for the program as ind shf issej the House, but the amount ever?: be as high as the authorized $120 1 ridi!on wnen the bill passes the Senate. jmforE'inal sum will be compromised in a we'te-House conference committee. le. PROGRAM MOVING AHEAD y in j't'iis little-known energy impact o read-stance program is moving ahead ob off little fanfare by a small office here ourafted up by state FHA offices. Kugler intereS his deputy Steven R. Myers, entrate on getting grants out to the s, which, in turn, provide the ey to local areas, counties and munities approved for such grants )OE. It's a low profile operation. - don't have any fancy brochures," rs told WRW during a lengthy view with Kugler and Myers on 21. ie program has been consistently Tfunded. The 1978 act (P.L. 95-620) :r which it was authorized provided nnding of up to $60 million for fiscal 1979 and $120 million for fiscal 1980. Only $20 million was ided in 1979. As DOE must get the ing, it take out a "cut" for ad-stration. ad-stration. This amounted to $200,000 Y 1979. FHA must also charge its inistrative costs to the program, so final amount available and :ated for grants in 1979 was 142,000. tigress initially voted $50 million in ing for the program in FY 1980, but lillion was lost in rescission in the nt attempt by the Administration Congress to balance the 1980 jet, and DOE took out another $1 Jon for administration. The net left d,r only $42 million available for the eallyf;ent 1980 fiscal year. DOE was slow t Vallaking the transfer of funds to FHA , -i'Y 1980. Altho the fiscal year began ey re ct. 1, 1979, FHA could not make the ly as3 'ts until March of this year, but it vtso the day -after DOE made the ,,sfer on March 7. ina'3' isociate FHA Administrator Jim SOIW T,ton highlighted the problem of jun'By-impacted localities in his mony before a Senate Energy mmittee on March 12. "It is not iual for communities impacted by gy development to experience a endous demand for basic services r a two or three-year penou...Althc 2flJnew developments will ultimately ,kij-,lnce a community's tax base, there ' 'ten a lag period before the local jget, 'flues are increase. The demand for ices and facilities, however, is lediate, resulting in the need to nee such projects prior to any in-ise in-ise in tax revenues. Further compounding this problem 'is the probability that local governments themselves may never realize sufficient suf-ficient increases in revenues" to cope with the increased population. "Most of these revenues, in the form of production and severance taxes, will go to state governments," Thornton testified. Under the impact assistance program called No. 601 by the people working on it DOE seeks the funds in its appropriations and actually designates the areas eligible for assistance. FHA wrote the regulations under which the program is implemented, im-plemented, and allocates the grants to the states on the basis of a complex formula and on receipt of a State Investment In-vestment Strategy from the Governor, with whose office Kugler and staff work directly in each of the affected states. FHA can make 100 percent of the funding necessary for planning grants but only 75 percent of the funding necessary for costs of site acquisition and site development. EXPANDED PROGRAM BOGGED DOWN For the second time in two Congresses, it appears that there will be no final Congressional action on a bill (S 1699) greatly to expand the energy impact aid program. Different versions of this legislation have been reported out of the Senate Energy Committee and the Senate Government .Affairs Committee, but there is no drive being made to get it thru the Senate except by Sen. Gary Hart, D-Colo., D-Colo., an original sponsor of the legislation, whose delay in reporting a nuclear waste bill out of his Senate Nuclear Regulation Subcommittee and Senate Environment Committee has angered members of the Senate Energy Committee. Hart is now talking of adding the impact aid bill (S 1699) to the long delayed DOE authorization by (S 2332) by "amendment on the Senate floor. Even if the impact aid bill passed the Senate, there is no chance it would pass the House before Congress adjourns. The House counterpart bill (HR 7358) by Rep. Harley O. Staggers, D-W.Va., has been referred to three House Committees, and not one has taken action to date. S 1699 as reported out by Senate Energy would provide for a $400,000,000 program annually from 1981-1985 in grants and loans and $1.5 billion in loan guarantees. The Senate Government Affairs version is more modest, providing $150 million annually in loans over a five-year period. APPROVED DESIGNATED AREAS FOR ENERGY IMPACTED AREA DEVELOPMENT AID IN UTAH, COLORADO AND WYOMING BY DOE UTAH: Garfield; Kane and Sanpete Counties; an area consisting of Carbon, Emery, Grand, San Juan Counties; an area consisting of Sevier and Wayne Counties. (4) WYOMING: Entire counties of Fremont and Carbon; and area consisting con-sisting of Campbell, Crock and Weston Counties; an area consisting of Lincoln, Uinta and Sweetwater Counties; an area consisting of Converse and Natrona Counties; and area consisting of Sheridan and Johnson Counties. (6) In light of oppostion by the National Coal Association and utilities to S 1699, a less ambitious impact aid program built on the present FHA program appears likely. Among the changes in the present law that are needed, according ac-cording to Kugler and Myers, are the following: more money to cope with the problems of energy impacted areas; authority to build needed facilities, such as schools, hospitals and clinics to handle increased population; authority to provide aid directly to Indian tribes rather than thru the states, as at present, and also to work with public or private nonprofit corporations as well as government entities; and broader authority to provide impact assistance than just to coal and uranium developments. S 1699 provides for aid for development activities relating to depletable energy resources, power plants, an Alaskan natural gas pipeline, and any, federally funded energy, project, including synfuels, especially oil shale, which is not eligible under the FHA program. |