RES-Skookumchuck Wind Energy Analysis

For RES America, ECONW prepared a socioeconomic impact analysis for an EIS under SEPA for the proposed Skookumchuck Wind Energy project on private timber land in Thurston and Lewis Counties in Washington. The analysis considered the economic effects of the project on population, housing, and employment. It included a detailed review of changes in government revenues, including property tax collections, timber excise tax revenues, and the impacts of changes in tax revenues on on local jurisdictions’ ability to deliver public services. It also included a review of the project’s impacts on the value of recreation and the value of ecosystem services. Finally, ECONorthwest conducted a review of the distribution of the economic impacts, including disproportionate effects on environmental justice populations.