Chamber hears about role state plays in local economy

Mitch Robinson, the Cape Girardeau Area Industrial Recruitment Association executive director, addressed the Jackson Chamber of Commerce Friday morning about issues facing the CGAIRA and statewide financial problems that are challenging economic development programs and organizations.

Robinson said economic development programs took a big hit when budget cuts were made at the state level. Job training funding was cut in half, he said, and many Missouri Economic Development regional offices were closed.

The CGAIRA, however, continues to show progress, Robinson said. According to literature provided at the chamber's quarterly breakfast Friday, there were eight business expansions in 2001, but only one so far this year, that being a $1.1 million Missouri Department of Transportation grant for highway improvements near Procter & Gamble.

Robinson said the area has felt the results of a sluggish economy, but it's not as bad here as it is in other places.

"We've had some layoffs, but no major shutdowns," Robinson said.

Major area projects

Robinson brought the approximately 40 attendees up to date on two major projects, the Kinder Morgan plant and a new ethanol manufacturer.

Kinder Morgan is a proposed power plant that would be built near Crump, Mo. The 550-megawatt plant is proposed for Route U, and would generate electricity with natural gas-powered and steam turbines.

The plant is being held up by the Department of Natural Resources, which wants Kinder Morgan to use selective catalytic reduction to improve the quality of emissions from the power plant.

Kinder Morgan doesn't want to, saying its current proposal would not hurt air quality.

Robinson chastised the DNR for using "delay tactics" but he said the state would review the case in Scott City on Oct. 24.

Later Friday morning, Robinson received a phone call that the case has been pushed back once again, until Dec. 5.

"We're all getting extremely frustrated," Robinson said. "Kinder Morgan has done everything they're supposed to do and the state is not giving them due process."

Also, a Midwest firm is considering building a $50 million ethanol plant that would process corn into a fuel additive on the 32.6-acre tract of farm land south of Nash Road near the Spartech plastics plant.

Robinson said construction on the plant, which will bring in about 35 jobs initially, could begin in the upcoming spring.