Geoff Black, a professor in the Department of Economics and associate at the Energy Policy Institute, conducted a study on the economic and fiscal impacts of the Magic Valley Energy’s Lava Ridge billion-dollar wind farm project in Eastern Idaho. Black conducted the study with Steve Peterson, an economist at the University of Idaho. The farm, when constructed, will stretch across public land in Lincoln, Jerome and Minidoka counties. At 1,000 megawatts, the Lava Ridge wind farm will be one of the biggest wind farms in the world.
“We broke out the increased tax revenues by taxing districts within each of the three counties,” said Black. “The company wanted the county commissioners to see the big increase in tax revenues for school districts and libraries. If the project goes through, local taxing districts could see big annual tax payments for decades.”
Read more about Black and Peterson’s study in the Times-News: “The windy windfall: LS Power releases timeline, economic projections for $1 billion wind farm”.