2002

A unique partnership of cattlemen, conservationists, and Western governors developed this report supporting the creation and use of publicly funded Purchase of Development Rights (PDR) to protect rapidly disappearing farm and ranch land and to conserve agricultural lands and wildlife habitat in the West. Authored jointly by the Western Governors’ Association, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, and the Trust for Public Land.

The Transmission Finance Committee (TFC) has prepared this report exploring transmission financing issues raised in the earlier Conceptual Plans for Electricity Transmission in the West report. It recommends to the Governors several specific steps they can take to help ensure that justifiable expansion of the Western grid can be financed. In its consideration of transmission financing and cost recovery alternatives, there has emerged among the TFC members a broad consensus documented in this report.

This Implementation Plan establishes a collaborative, performance-based framework for achieving the goals and actions of the 10-Year Plan with performance measures and tasks to identify key benchmarks and track progress over time. It also provides tools to deliver national goals at the local level in an ecologically, socially, and economically appropriate manner.