The Gap in the Record
Large transmission portfolios are planned by regional grid operators at a multi-state scale. Their benefit-cost studies measure what the system gains — reduced congestion, improved reliability, avoided generation capacity, and access to lower-cost supply — and allocate costs across the region’s ratepayers. That is the right scale for system planning, but it is not designed to answer the questions a county board or a town chair will ask.
When a specific route comes before a state siting authority, the economic evidence for host communities is often limited to construction spending and payment figures prepared by the applicant, while effects on agricultural operations, land values, recreation, and local character are described qualitatively, if at all. The result is a record in which the regional benefits are quantified and the local costs are not.
The right question is not whether a transmission line has benefits — it is who receives them, who bears the costs, and whether the record weighs both with the same rigor.
— DMP Development AnalyticsWhat a Corridor-Level Analysis Measures
DMP Development Analytics builds the analysis around the geography of the route itself — county by county and town by town — and reports results on both a gross and a net basis.
Agricultural Land & Operations
Acreage taken out of production or restricted by structures and easements, effects on farm operations and equipment movement, and the regional output and income tied to that production.
Property Values & Land Use
Parcel-level exposure along the route, benchmarked against the peer-reviewed literature on proximity effects, and implications for future development of affected land.
Local Tax Base & Payments
A jurisdiction-specific schedule of statutory impact fees and other payments, set against any effects on the assessed base, municipal service costs, and road maintenance.
Construction-Period Effects
Resident and non-resident labor, lodging and local spending, road wear, and disruption — measured honestly as temporary job-years rather than permanent employment.
Scenic, Recreational & Visitor Economies
Effects that standard frameworks miss: scenic and rural road designations, agritourism, recreational land values, hunting leases, and the visitor spending that depends on them.
The In-State Perspective
The share of a multi-state project’s benefits and costs that accrues within the state, presented alongside the regional total so decision-makers can see both.
Wisconsin Example: Statutory Transmission Fees
In Wisconsin, new high-voltage transmission lines carry two statutory payments to host jurisdictions under Wis. Stat. § 16.969. A corridor-level analysis allocates these payments to each county, town, village, and city along the route and compares them with the local effects identified above.
| Payment | Amount | Recipients |
|---|---|---|
| One-time environmental impact fee | 5% of line cost | Split 50/50 between counties and towns, villages, and cities, in proportion to investment in each; restricted to park, conservancy, wetland, and similar environmental programs unless the Commission approves otherwise. |
| Annual impact fee | 0.3% of line cost | Towns, villages, and cities, in proportion to investment in each. |
Source: Wis. Stat. § 16.969. Payment mechanisms differ by state; each analysis applies the statutes in force where the route is located.
Why Tertiary Impacts Matter
Before founding DMP Development Analytics, Dean Prestegaard administered the Wisconsin Rustic Roads program as Economic Development Chief at the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. That experience informs a part of the analysis that is easy to overlook: scenic and rural road designations, the agritourism and recreational economies that grow up around them, and the visitor spending they support can all be affected by a large transmission structure in the viewshed. These effects are modest in a statewide model, but they can be decisive for the small communities and businesses that depend on them.
Method
Define the Corridor Geography
Map the route, alternatives, and affected parcels by jurisdiction, land use, and designation using GIS and assessment data.
Build the Construction and Operations Profile
Separate local from imported spending, resident from traveling labor, and temporary from ongoing activity.
Quantify Displaced and Affected Activity
Measure agricultural, land value, recreational, and visitor effects using the best available parameters and literature, with sensitivity ranges.
Model Regional Effects
Run IMPLAN or TREDIS for county and state study areas to capture direct, indirect, and induced effects on a gross and net basis.
Schedule the Fiscal Flows
Allocate statutory fees and other payments by jurisdiction and compare them with local service and tax-base effects.
Document for the Record
Deliver findings with an assumptions register and retained modeling files so the work can withstand review by Commission staff, applicants, and other parties.
Independent Review of an Applicant’s Exhibit
Not every community needs a full study. For counties, towns, and intervenor groups, DMP Development Analytics also provides an independent reading of an applicant’s economic exhibit — testing its geography, local-share assumptions, labor accounting, and fiscal schedule — so decision-makers know which figures to rely on and which questions to ask.
The methods described here are established and proven in infrastructure economics; their application to energy siting, transmission, data center, and utility questions is an active area of engagement development for DMP Development Analytics. If a project in your community raises these questions, we would welcome an early conversation.