JAY PLATER
Consulting
Economist
Energy
and Water Economics
810
Walker Street
Columbia
TN 38401
931-490-0060
Professional
Experience:
Mr.
Plater has over seven years of experience as a resource economist and policy
analyst on numerous consulting assignments. He has worked on numerous economic
and financial modeling assignments related to natural resources.
·
For the Minerals Management Service, he built the
Offshore Economics Cost Model (OECM), which embeds damage functions that relate
offshore exploration and development activities to environmental and social
externalities. The model is used by MMS
in conjunction with its Benefit/Cost evaluations of 5-year lease sale plans.
·
For the Metropolitan Water District of
Southern California’s Eastside Reservoir Project (ESRP), Mr. Plater was lead
developer of the ESRP Financial Planning Model, an Excel-based financial model
that forecasts all aspects of the appurtenant recreation businesses in the
recreation area. Built upon years of research by recreation planning team
members, the model generates estimates of all revenues, operating expenses,
capital costs, taxes, and other financial flows for up to 20 interrelated
businesses and forecasts out for 20 years. The model generates a complete set
of annual financial statements (Income, Cash Flow, and Balance Sheet) for each
business, along with measures of profitability, debt coverage, and working
capital requirements. Thousands of operational parameters can be changed to
study their impacts on the financial feasibility of individual businesses and
of the recreation area as a whole, including startup dates, different types of
ownership, financing schemes, debt/equity ratios, capital costs, and visitation
forecasts. To date the ESRP Financial Planning Model has been used to forecast
baseline ESRP performance under a wide range of alternative operation
scenarios, effects of public/private financing arrangements, effects of body
contact recreation on both the recreation area and the Inland Empire regional
economy.
·
For the Santa Clara Valley Water
District, Mr. Plater analyzed the economic and financial implications of a
proposed water recycling program. Beginning with the District’s own 10-year
financial forecast, Mr. Plater used econometric equations extend the forecasting term to 2020. He then
determined water rate levels required to pay for a recycling program while
maintaining appropriate bond coverage and operating reserve levels.
·
In support of the CalFed Bay Delta
program, Mr. Plater developed model to estimate employment and gross output
effects on water-dependent manufacturing industries resulting from regional
water shortages. Used forecasting model to predict economic impact on Contra
Costa County resulting from various levels of potential future shortages.
·
Mr. Plater used the California
Department of Water Resources' Economic Risk Model to estimate economic impacts
on Southern California resulting from proposed Bay-Delta water conservation
standards. Surveyed model operations
and modified key parameters to determine impacts of various proposed regulatory
alternatives.
·
For a U.S. Navy environmental impact
statement (EIS), Mr. Plater calculated total economic value of commercial and
recreational fisheries on the San Francisco Bay Area economy utilizing a
spreadsheet-based computer model.
Computer Skills:
Complete
knowledge of statistical, mathematical, word processing, and graphics
applications on various platforms.
Extensive experience designing spreadsheet-based financial models
utilizing Visual Basic programming routines. Experience with simulation and
linear/nonlinear optimization modeling software.
Education:
M.S.,
Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, Department of Agricultural
Economics, University of California, Davis. Focus on mathematical analysis and
modeling.
B.A.,
Economics, University of Florida