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1. The EPA is considering an application from the state of Colorado for a large dam project on the Colorado River. The basic costs and benefits of the project (in inflation-adjusted dollar values) are as follows:

Costs			$900 million/year first three years
Construction costs:
Operating costs:			$80 million/year
Agricultural product lost from flooded lands:			$65 million/year
Forest products lost from flooded lands:			$40 million/year
Benefits
Revenues from Power Generation
	Hydropower generated:		4 billion Kilowatt hours/year
	Price of electricity:		$0.125/Kilowatt hour
Revenues from Irrigation Services
	Irrigation water available from the dam:		200K Acre-Feet
	Price of water:		$700/Acre-Foot

1. Do a formal Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) using the quantifiable factors listed above. Assume that the operating lifespan of the dam is 30 years. Assume construction begins in year 1. All other impacts start when the dam is completed (at the beginning of Year 4) and continue for 30 years, which implies the full lifespan for the project is 33 years.
2. Using the same parameters and results from part (a.), adjust the interest rate to determine the level of discounting necessary to just break even. (Hint: I would start by changing the interest rate in 1% increments and then refine the changes as you get close to the break-even point.) What does this increase or decrease in interest rate imply about the relationship between costs and benefits over time?
3. (Return to the setup from part (a.) with a 7% discount rate.) In addition to the components of the project listed above, what other costs and/or benefits do you think are missing that should be included? How do you think they will impact the overall conclusion regarding the profitability of the project? (Hint: I would suggest thinking about this in terms of existence values i.e., based on our discussion in class surrounding the development of ANWR what values may need to be built into this analysis and how would you go about getting them. There isnt one right answer you just need to defend your reasoning for what you come up with. I would suggest starting by thinking about how many households there are in the US and how much each would pay per year to protect the ecosystems associated with the dam.)
4. Finally, holding constant the analysis you did in part (c.) what happens when you increase the acre-foot price of irrigation water from $700 to $1500 and/or the price per kilowatt hour of electricity from $0.125 to $0.15?