Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Ski area owner shocked by added price to environmental impact statement

The owner of Lookout Pass Ski Area is baffled and frustrated by a recent $120,000 increase in the original bid price that a consultant is charging the ski area to write an Environmental Impact Statement for its proposed expansion. But officials with the Idaho Panhandle National Forest still hope the warring parties can resolve their issues. Phil Edholm, CEO and president of the ski area on the Montana-Idaho border, said that in his opinion, the delays and extra costs are beginning to become serious issues. “There is so much incompetence and lack of knowledge on how to proceed with this process from the Forest Service,” he explained. “There are so many undue delays. We’re going in circles here trying to get this thing resolved, but I’m optimistic it will get resolved.” Earlier this summer, Oregon-based SWCA Environmental Consultants informed Edholm that the cost of the EIS will be $120,000 more than their original bid of $500,000 for the work. Edholm sent a letter to forest supervisor Mary Farnsworth detailing his concerns. “This cost increase raises significant concerns for Lookout Pass, which strategically budgeted $500,000, based off the Forest Service’s actions, to pay for the cost of SWCA’s preparation of the Third-Party EIS,” he wrote. “Neither law nor policy requires the type and scope of cultural and archaeological field investigation studies proposed by the Scope of Work and described in the Fieldwork Plan. Furthermore, SWCA has not provided sufficient information to support its decision to perform such extensive studies described in the Scope of Work and Fieldwork Plan. This Scope of Work and increased cost estimate to conduct fieldwork and to prepare two technical reports for the Third-Party EIS is simply not appropriate.” Edholm wrote that the failure to include these costs in the original proposal is detrimental to Lookout Pass’ project planning...more

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