Federal Forest Access Fees Are Big Bargains Compared To Private Lands Gao Says Fees Don’t Reflect Fair Market Value

The federal government is losing millions of dollars a year because the Forest Service charges owners of power lines, telephone lines and pipelines only a fraction of what utilities pay for access to state or private lands.

In the most extreme case cited in a government audit released Friday, the owner of a natural gas pipeline paid California $130,726 an acre last year for access to state-owned land but gained similar rights to national forest land for $814 per acre.

More typical were cases in Colorado, Virginia, Montana and Washington, where the agency collects about a dime for every $1 nonfederal owners charge, the report by the General Accounting Office said.

Forest Service fees “do not reflect fair market value” as required by several laws, the GAO said. “Agency officials acknowledge that current rates are too low,” it said and recommended that it raise rates.

Washington Water Power Co. transmission lines cross about 250 miles of land owned by the Forest Service and other federal agencies, real estate supervisor Don Malisani said.

Distribution, natural gas and telecommunications lines, add to the total, he said.

WWP paid the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and other agencies $22,785 for right of way use in 1995, he said, but the annual total varies because some fees are not paid yearly.

Malisani said the agencies set the fees, WWP simply pays them.

Federal permits, he noted, are renewed annually. In contrast, rights of way across private property are secured by permanent easement, and may have been paid for in a lump sum.

WWP transmission lines cross a total 2,070 miles of public and private land, Malisani said.

Forest Service spokeswoman Nora Rasure said the agency is reviewing the GAO report but has no immediate plans to raise the fees.

“Some places are closer to fair market value than others,” she said. “We’ll be looking at the report. We know the information in it. We helped prepare it.”

Last year, the Forest Service collected $2.2 million in fees from the 5,600 special-use permits it issued for oil and gas pipelines, power lines and communication lines.

Owners frequently need access to many miles of land in strips usually 20 to 50 feet wide. One of the largest permit holders, the Bonneville Power Administration buys access to hundreds of miles across much of the Northwest.

In at least one case, the GAO study found BPA paid the equivalent of $7,800 more per acre for the use of private right of way than it did for Forest Service acreage.

The audit did not project a specific amount that could be raised if fees were raised to reflect fair market values.

But the windfall certainly would run into the millions of dollars, said the GAO’s Cliff W. Fowler.

, DataTimes