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Page S-16 Summary February 2000 <br />• the State Highway 50 crossing in Delta. Ambulance service, as well as police and fire response times, <br />would be delayed an estimated 5 to 7 minutes when crossings are blocked by passing trains. <br />S-3.15 Socioeconomics <br />Existing Conditions - As of 1998, approximately 26,600 residents live in Delta County and 12,475 <br />residents live in Gunnison County. Population in both counties is forecast to increase at an annual rate <br />of just over 2 percent for the next 20+ years. <br />Both Delta and Gunnison counties have experienced substantial job growth in recent years, though <br />mining activity is a smaller proportion of the employment base. The mines in the North Fork Valley <br />have restructured to achieve substantially greater productivity in a more competitive domestic and <br />global market. <br />The primary study area is served by two ambulance districts, five fire districts, municipal police; and <br />county sheriff services. Municipal water service is available in all incorporated communities of Delta <br />County, and municipal sewage/waste water treatment is available in all incorporated jurisdictions <br />except Orchard City. Electric service is available in Delta and Gunnison counties through Tri-State <br />Generation and Transmission Association and its local affiliates: Delta-Montrose Electric Association <br />and Gunnison Electric Association. <br />Medical services are provided through Delta Hospital, which is a full service, general acute care <br />hospital. This hospital has 49 beds, home health care, a staff of 28 doctors, and 198 full-time and 89 <br />part-time employees. <br />• The federal govemment receives royalties from mining of federal coal. The state of Colorado receives <br />tax revenues primarily from sales, severance, and income taxes as well as 50 percent of the royalties <br />from mining federal coal. Local governmental entities receive property, sales, and severance taxes, as <br />well as a share of the federal royalties. <br />The state of Colorado and local jurisdictions in Delta and Gunnison counties currently receive an <br />estimated $11.4 million in combined annual tax revenue related to operation of the Bowie No. 2 and <br />Oxbow mines and mine-related employees. Of this amount, 52 percent accrues to the state <br />govemment and 48 percent to the local governments in Delta and Gunnison counties. <br />Communities along the North Fork of the Gunnison River have a long history with coal mining <br />extending back to the late 1880s. Over 60 percent of the households in Delta County are identified <br />with demographic and lifestyle characteristics of "rustic living." These households tend to remain <br />actively involved in making a living from the land, including agriculture, mining and construction. <br />Whether or not coal mining is viewed as having a positive or negative effect on the quality of life <br />depends on values that receive greatest emphasis from different residents of the North Fork region, <br />and in part on resident dependence on natural resource related industries, <br />Environmental Consequences -Socioeconomic effects of the No-Action Altemative would occur due <br />to a reduction in coal mine activities within the region. Under the No-Action Altemative, mining of <br />reserves at existing mines would continue at current extraction rates until reserves are completed. <br />If both mines ceased operations, more than 800 residents would be directly affected. Whether these <br />• people would remain in the area would depend on whether people chose to relocate elsewhere to find <br />employment or remain in the local study area. Combined, these two mine closures could affect nearly <br />2,380 residents living in the local study area. <br /> <br />