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Vantage to Pomona Heights Chapter 4 230 kV Transmission Line Project FEIS Environmental Consequences PAGE 4-237 Public Utility Taxes Public Utility Taxes would accrue to the state due to operation of the Project. However, the impact is assessed as zero. This conclusion follows from the nature of the Public Utility Tax, which is paid on the basis of electricity sales to customers. Electric service is provided according to local demand. The Action Alternatives would have no effect on ultimate demand for electricity, because, if no action were undertaken, other methods to deliver electricity to customers would almost certainly be implemented. Thus, Public Utility Taxes would not change under any of the Action Alternatives or the No Action Alternative. Right-of-Way Lease Payment Payments for use of public lands would be made under each Action Alternative primarily for use of lands under management by Reclamation, BLM, JBLM YTC, and WSDOT. At this preliminary time, no estimates of the amounts of payments to Reclamation or WSDOT can be made. This is because Reclamation and WSDOT calculate its lease payment based on the appraised value of land which is done at the time of an application and cannot be known at this time. However, very little Reclamation or WSDOT land is crossed under any Action Alternative. The BLM publishes its ROW rent payment schedule. Based on this schedule, an assumed average ROW width of 150 feet and estimated mileage of BLM land crossed under each Action Alternative, the annual rent payments in 2015 are shown in Tables 4.9-8 and 4.9-9. The rental rates escalate each year by 1.9 percent. These estimates indicate a wide range among Action Alternatives of ROW rent payments to BLM ranging from $2,194 to $7,806. Substantial line distances would traverse the JBLM YTC for Alternatives A-D and the NNR Alternative and NNR Alternative - MR Subroute, but little or no distance for Alternatives E-H. Payments for use of JBLM YTC land for ROWs would be made for Action Alternatives crossing JBLM YTC. In order to develop the rental price for substantial usage, the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) Seattle District, which is responsible for real estate transactions at the JBLM YTC, would need to assess the fair market value of the land within the ROWs. For non-substantial ROW usage, the BLM price schedule used in Table 4.9-8 could be used as a proxy for the ultimate charges for ROW usage on JBLM YTC lands (Petersen 2011). By using the BLM schedule in Table 4.9-8 and the distances in the JBLM YTC for each Action Alternative (see Table 2-1), it was determined that all Action Alternatives except Alternatives F and H would result in payments of over $9,000 annually (for Alternatives F and H, no ROW in JBLM YTC lands would be needed). This substantial use means that the BLM schedule of costs would probably not be a good proxy for the ultimate price charged by the USACE for JBLM YTC ROWs for the Project. In the absence of the appraisal needed upon which to base a preliminary cost estimate, no estimate of the approximate ultimate payments is possible at this time. The Project would have nearly imperceptible impacts on hospitals, schools and law enforcement as the Project would not cause a noticeable increase in the permanent population (totaling approximately 45 people in the three-county Study Region plus Benton County). Project construction and maintenance activities have the potential to introduce a fire risk in a high-danger zone, primarily dry grassland that is susceptible to wildfire and sparsely populated. Best management practices would be followed by construction and maintenance workers to reduce risk of fires. Low to negligible impacts on local or regional firefighting services would be expected for all Action Alternatives. Operation and maintenance activities would have no impacts on socioeconomic resources. Substation equipment upgrades would occur within the existing Pomona Heights and Vantage Substation footprints and would have no impact on socioeconomic resources.