PacifiCorp, however, told state lawmakers it would lose $187 million if it had to shoulder the cost of the scrubbers and might prefer to shut down the plant, which employs 700 people. Washington lawmakers responded by giving the Portland-based energy company a $130 million tax break. According to the current issue of Cascadia Times, however, the EPA withheld an analysis, conducted earlier this year by its consultant, Jim Lazar, which concluded that PacifiCorp may have underestimated the true value of the plant's electrical power by nearly $350 million when making the case for the tax break. "This analysis," Lazar concluded, "...indicates that the tax package is not necessary." This conclusion clearly would have been of interest to Washington energy officials, who heard about Lazar's analysis and requested it from the EPA. PacifiCorp, however, claimed that parts of it were proprietary, stalling the request. PacifiCorp officials make some compelling arguments in their defense. For starters, they had no power to release the EPA's study. Second, in other parts of his analysis, Lazar concludes that the tax break was needed for other reasons. Finally, they don't agree that the company underestimated the value of the power. Given all that, lawmakers may have been unmoved by Lazar's analysis. But they should have been given the chance to hear it before handing out the tax break. |
