Federal Energy Impact Assistance

A review was made to determine the roles of the states, the federal government and industry in providing assistance to communities affected by the development of regional energy sources. In view of the considerable federal assistance that has already been provided, GAO discourages further legislation that would delegate federal funds to mitigate energy impacts in the Rocky Mountain and other affected areas. Any additional assistance should be contingent on the willingness of the states to: take actions to meet a minimum level of assistance to communities affected by energy development; develop plans to systematically deal with the impacts; and clearly demonstrate in their plans that the assistance would actually be used to help energy affected communities. To encourage states and individual communities to provide minimum levels of assistance, funds should be made available as loans or loan guarantees, and grants should be directed toward financing the front-end planning needed to deal with energy impacts.