Pike County will be a focal point on a national study designed to help communities that depend upon coal to drive their economy.
The county was chosen for the Building Resilient Economies in Coal Communities (BRECC) through the National Association of Counties (NACo) challenge.
The challenge will support eight counties from across the United States as the teams of local leaders and community members respond to the local needs of being without the financial support of coal.
“I think this is going to open up an opportunity for federal grant dollars,” said Ashley Willis, executive director for the Pike County Economic Development Corp. “I hope at the end of this we can accelerate plans that we can push forward. We want to get all of those projects we are thinking about down on paper and make it part of a short-term economic diversification and match that with funding sources.”
Pike County is the lone participant in the BRECC challenge from Indiana. Much of southwestern Indiana has been dependent on coal for jobs in both the mining and power generation business for decades. The decline of coal is something that is still sending ripples through Pike County.
“Pike County is still feeling the ripple effects in the downturn in coal. Our largest employer is AES, the Petersburg coal-fired power plant. That impact will be bigger than Pike County. They purchase their coal from throughout the state. It is going to impact a lot of jobs and wages in Indiana,” said Willis. “There was a chance that they were going to shut down all of the units at Petersburg, but they decided they are going to convert two of the four units to natural gas, which is a better scenario for the community, however, it will mean a major reduction in jobs at the plant once that conversion is complete. There is a lot of concern in the local workforce. Those are high-paying jobs and it is going to be difficult to find a comparable job at a comparable wage.”
“That plant may be an important part of the Pike County tax base but it is also important to Daviess County,” said Daviess County Economic Development Corp. Executive Director Bryant Niehoff. “That plant is a quick 15-minute drive from the south side of Washington and there is a pretty significant impact on our workforce on the people who drive down there daily.”
Willis says the BRECC challenge will include a year-long look at strategies for coal counties like Pike to find ways to diversify and build new opportunities. Being in Indiana though will put Pike County at a disadvantage as other states already have programs in place to help with the economic transition away from coal.
“The federal government has some programs that can help us with this transition, but the state doesn’t have programs to help coal communities transition. Even Kentucky and Illinois have state funded programs to help coal communities. We have shared that information with our state officials,” said Willis. “This will be a 12-month process and then at the end of the year they will all be part of presentations. We will all meet in Washington, D.C. with the National Association of Counties and then with the U.S. Economic Development Administration.”
“I think this is great. I think it is good for Pike County and it is good for the region. This is coal country, but that dynamic is changing. It is certainly good to see Pike County getting involved in that challenge to transition,” said Niehoff. “I am interested to see what they come up with. I want to see if they have things come out of that that fit with other counties like Daviess where coal has been a major player in the local economy. Hopefully, there will be some best practices that come out of this that we can use here.”
The participating counties will be working with NACo and the federal Economic Development Administration, building the strategies and programs for post-coal counties and in the end many of those ideas will be available to other coal communities.
“The U.S. Economic Development Administration is committed to supporting coal communities currently facing and experiencing transition,” said Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development Alejandra Y. Castillo. “Through the Building Resilient Economies in Coal Communities initiative, we’re delighted to recognize and support the 20 local leaders and eight community teams who were selected to participate in the Commitment Coalition and Action Challenge. They represent the innovative, entrepreneurial leadership that is needed to help coal communities across America build and access new opportunities for growth in years ahead.”
BRECC’s programming will build local capacity to pursue a wide range of economic revitalization strategies, including workforce retention and development, infrastructure and alternative energy, placemaking and outdoor recreation, entrepreneurial ecosystems and business development, and sustainability and funding planning.
“I am very excited for this unique opportunity. This is the first they have done. I think this is something that we can help our economic development partners with in the future.”
“There are so many trends underway that are shifting energy production. Battery technology, solar, wind, hydrogen, even these small nuclear reactors. The state is really pushing these things as part of the new economy,” said Niehoff. “We have the Battery Innovation Center here at Westgate. We continue to see prospects from battery and clean energy companies looking to establish a foothold. It is something that is coming and it is good to see Pike County get ahead of that.”
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