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<br />52 <br /> <br />would also be advisable to have a review board working with that state <br />office in the administration of the Fund. This board should include <br />strong regional representation from energy-impacted areas. <br /> <br />State Focal Point for Energy Impact Assistance <br />With anticipated increases in energy resource development in Colorado, <br />there are numerous reasons for creating a single state focal point to <br />deal with social, economic and public finance problems resulting from <br />such development. Coordination and integration of public and private <br />energy development activities would be the principal objective of such <br />a state focal point. The history of energy development projects in the <br />West shows that nearly all projects have involved starts and stops, <br />changes in plans and erroneous estimates of size, timing, cost and im- <br />pacts. Most of these problems result from uncertainty, lack of coordi- <br />nation and/or integration of plans. To insure high quality productive <br />development, coordination and cooperation is essential. For the <br />purpose of further discussion, the proposed state focal point is re- <br />ferred to as the Impact Office. <br /> <br />The primary purposes of an Impact Office would be to: <br /> <br />(1) Administer an Energy Impact Assistance Fund, <br /> <br />(2) Provide impacted areas with a single point of access to <br />state technical expertise on a variety of potential com- <br />munity development problems related to energy impact. and <br /> <br />(3) Coordinate state, federal, local and industry activity in <br />energy development. <br /> <br />The Impact Office could perform the following major functions: <br /> <br />(1) Assist in the development of designation standards that would be used <br />to determine eligibility of potential energy impact boom towns and <br />areas. Using these standards, along with other criteria, identify <br />specific communities and/or areas which would be eligible for vari- <br />ous types of financial assistance. <br />