In Case You Missed It on CNBC

“By May, the FDA must decide whether they will stick to an Obama-era regulation that would force cigar-makers to abide by the same compliance rules as all other tobacco products. If they do, the compliance costs could put nearly 90% of U.S. cigar manufacturers out of business and destroy 5,300 jobs, according to data compiled by Mangum Economic Consulting and provided by Cigar Rights of America…. Across the country, 11,140 U.S. tobacco retailers could be impacted by the Obama regulation, according to the Mangum Economic Consulting report, citing 2015 U.S. Census Bureau numbers.”

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/06/premium-cigar-makers-could-catch-a-break-from-fda-as-wh-applies-pressure.html

Mangum Analyses of Solar Power Projects in the News

Augusta Solar LLC, under its parent company, Community Energy, has proposed to build a 125 megawatt solar power farm on in Lyndhurst and Stuarts Draft, Virginia. Our analysis of the project shows that the facility would strengthen the Augusta County economy. The Staunton News Leader reports that, “A wide analysis explored how the project would diversify the economy, increase the estimated tax revenue over the project's 35 year lease, create local jobs and spur spending within Augusta County. The report comes from Mangum Economics, a Richmond based firm that specializes in analyzing economic objectives to aid decision making.”

This follows Campbell County approval of the 80 megawatt Dragonfly Solar facility that we also analyzed, as reported by the News & Advance.

InterGlobix and Mangum Economics Announce Strategic Business Partnership

Mangum Economics is very pleased to announce our strategic partnership with InterGlobix, LLC today at Metro Connect 2019 in Miami. InterGlobix is a global solutions company focused on the convergence of data centers, terrestrial fiber and subsea fiber. InterGlobix and Mangum Economics will collaborate on content and report creation in a very targeted niche area of economic impact analysis of data centers, subsea cables, and terrestrial fiber networks.

Read the full press release.

Mangum Economics at Utilities & Data Centers 2019

Fletcher Mangum will be speaking this afternoon at the Utilities & Data Centers 2019 conference this afternoon in Richmond. The theme of this year’s conference is The Future of Resiliency and Renewable Energy in the Data Center - Utility Relationship. Because of our work with many wind energy and solar power projects and data center issues, Fletcher will be able to provide a good overview of the interrelation of these growth industries.

Data Center Incentives Report Released

The Illinois Chamber of Commerce Foundation has released our report, The Potential Impact of a Data Center Incentive in Illinois. Our report compares the disparity of data center capital investment growth and jobs created between Illinois and neighboring and competitive states and examines the state tax policies used to attract and grow the industry. It also reveals the potential local economic and fiscal impacts if incentives were to attract a major data center to various localities in Illinois.

The release was publicized at two events - one in Aurora, IL (home to the CME Group data center and the OnLight Aurora fiber ISP) and another at Digital Realty’s enormous data center at 350 E Cermak, in Chicago. The Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Daily Herald.

Landscaping the Cloud in Loudoun

Our analyses of the fiscal return on investment to counties from data centers are included in a fascinating Data Center Frontier article on the data center development around Ashburn.

“As a digital transformation sweeps the world, Internet infrastructure will become a more meaningful part of our cities and suburbs. As America’s largest digital crossroads, Ashburn represents the bleeding edge of that trend, a place where data centers filled with cloud servers are interspersed with malls and golf courses and townhouse developments.”

“Virginia has seen a strong return on its investment in data center incentives, according to an economic impact study by Mangum Economics, a Richmond-based research firm. For every dollar in county expenditures, the data center sector provided approximately $9.50 in tax revenue to Loudoun County, and approximately $4.30 in tax revenue to Prince William County, the study concluded.”

“‘Why not residential on top of a data center?’ said Bill McCarthy, an architect with Callison RTKL who works on data center design in Northern Virginia. That type of initiative, along with continued efforts to create less industrial building facades, could be important to the future integration of Internet infrastructure and both urban and suburban landscapes.”

Apex Clean Energy Solar Facility Proposed for Campbell County

Tom Hart's article on the solar facility proposed for Campbell County by Apex Clean Energy mentions our economic analysis (starting on page 38 of the .pdf) of the economic and fiscal contribution that the facility would make to the county. 

We estimate that construction of the facility would create a one-time pulse of economic activity in Campbell County alone of 200 FTEs, $8.7 million in associated labor income, $20.5 million in additional economic output, and almost a total of $1 million in federal, state and local tax revenue. On an annual basis, operating the facility after it is constructed will create an estimated 4 FTEs, $185,000 in associated labor income, and $486,000 in additional economic output in the county over the 35 year life of the project.

Comments on EPA and FDA Regulatory Plans

My opinion on EPA's proposal to base their regulatory decisions on transparent science has been published by The Regulatory Review. "Science and Democratic Policy in a Data-Driven World". Bipartisan and nonpartisan groups, including the most prestigious science journals, have recommended data access for years. Data transparency is the only way that citizens can keep a check on the effect of politics in regulatory decisions. Moreover, transparent science should be the rule at every regulatory agency and not just EPA.

My comment for the Regulatory Studies Center at George Washington University on a maximum limit on the nicotine content of cigarettes was submitted to FDA. FDA's approach has potential to make it easier to quit smoking, but it is unproven. So the agency should proceed with developing a nicotine standard for cigarettes, but at the same time it needs a comprehensive plan for access to nicotine in products that don't burn. And FDA should plan to learn from experience once any rule is in place and be ready to adjust the rule accordingly. The agency should also make the data from taxpayer-funded tobacco research available to the public.

Offshore Oil & Natural Gas Activity's Impact on Hampton Roads

The American Petroleum Institute recently released our study of the potential economic and fiscal impact of offshore oil and natural gas activity on the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. Some highlights of the study include:

• Almost 17,000 new direct, indirect and induced jobs would be created in the area twenty years after initial lease sales in industries such as construction, healthcare & social assistance, retail, hospitality, and real estate.
• Oil and natural gas industry jobs pay above-average salaries and would account for $1 billion in new income in the region twenty years after initial lease sales.
• 82 percent of the jobs created are projected to pay wages above the average for the region.
• The average weekly salary for the oil and natural gas extraction industry is 60 percent above the regional average.

Our Data Center Report in Virginia Business

James Leach, Corporate Vice President at RagingWire Data Centers, uses information from our recent report on data centers in his contribution to Virginia Business on what he calls the "Data Center Multiplier Effect." He cites our research showing that

• every job in a Virginia data center creates two additional jobs in Virginia,
• data centers accounted for 70% of total reported capital investment in Virginia in 2015, and
• for every $1 that data centers use in public services, they pay about $8 in property taxes.