GOVERNOR APPOINTS STATE OFFICIALS TO PROMOTE AREA PROJECTS

Missouri Governor John Ashcroft has appointed state officials to work with the Regional Commerce and Growth Association to direct efforts of the Tri-State Commission, a regional economic development group.

Garry Taylor, deputy director of economic development, and Cathy Cote, project manager of the Missouri Department of Economic Development, will represent Jefferson City in the commission.

The Tri-State Commission is the offshoot of the Tri-State Coalition, which was formed to promote issues of mutual importance to western Kentucky, Southern Illinois and Southeast Missouri.

Walt Wildman, executive director of the RCGA in Cape Girardeau, said Thursday that state government representatives from Illinois and Kentucky also will join the commission.

"What we hope to do is create a line of communication between the three states a sense of community for what we consider to be a natural community anyway in the three-state area," Wildman said. "The potential benefits for cooperation are extensive, but primarily, we're looking toward economic development issues."

The commission's immediate responsibilities will center on promotion of four projects: the U-AVLIS plant at Paducah, Ky; a proposed "Information Age Park" situated west of Paducah; the Olmsted Lock and Dam on the Ohio River; and the I-66 project.

Wildman said the commission will enable the three states to join forces in promoting the projects.

The U-AVLIS (uranium atomic vapor laser isotope separation) project involves a proposed expansion and update of the existing uranium enrichment plant in Paducah.

Wildman said the federal government is considering three sites one of which is the Paducah plant to upgrade with a new process that more efficiently extracts energy from uranium.

"The commission lobbied in Washington, D.C. on behalf of the Paducah site, and officials there said the cooperation of the representatives from the three-state region was a real plus," Wildman said.

He said the "Information Age Park" near Paducah is another promising project. Wildman said the park would be a modern communications complex comparable to Silicon Valley, Calif.

Olmsted Lock and Dam is a $1.1 billion project that is expected to go to bid this fall, and I-66 the brainchild of the RCGA is a proposed, coast-to-coast interstate highway that would intersect the region.

Wildman said the group sought the assistance of the executive offices of Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri because the projects are large enough that they affect all three states. He said communication and cooperation are keys to ensure the projects are realized.

"All four projects are of a size that they go beyond the state boundaries," Wildman added.

Along with the Missouri Department of Economic Development, other state agencies involved with the commission include the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs.

Initially, the Tri-State Coalition was started by the Greater Paducah Economic Development Council and the RCGA, Wildman said.

The RCGA's executive director said he was pleased Ashcroft, who will finish out his final term of office this year, agreed to assist the commission.

"One of the concerns (the governor's office) expressed was that they couldn't do anything special for one region of the state without doing something for everyone else," Wildman said. "But they said no one else has come up with this.

"I was impressed with the response we got, especially considering Ashcroft is on his way out."

Ashcroft said in a letter to Wildman that he favored regional cooperation across state lines to promote economic development.

"I agree that regional economic development issues cross state boundaries, and interstate cooperation can be of benefit to the citizens of all three states," he said.

Wildman said the four projects the commission currently is pursuing are only the beginning.

"There are all kinds of things working out there," he said. "The four projects are immediate things, but we're also working on the possibility of working together on tourism, general infrastructure and highways, education, retail trade and economic development."