Kentucky is no stranger to alternative fuel plants. It has two ethanol facilities already operating in Louisville and Hopkinsville. And it has two projects forthcoming in counties abutting the Ohio River. In the Meade County city of Brandenburg, just downriver from Louisville, Agri Fuels LLC is building a $100- million, 55- million- gallon facility, with a groundbreaking scheduled for early 2007. That plant could employ up to 50 people. And at the state's far western end, in Fulton County, Bluegrass Bioenergy LLC broke ground this summer on its own 55- million- gallon plant, expected to begin producing in late 2007.
   But you don't need to be making energy products in order to make economic sparks fly: Project flow in general along the Ohio is nearly as strong and steady as its current.
   Conway Data's New Plant Database showed 245 projects in the counties abutting the Ohio River from July 2005 through August 2006. That was higher than the 230 projects over the same period a year earlier, and just beat out the 241 projects the year before that. But perhaps even more important, the new wave of projects represents more than US$2.8 billion and more than 11,000 new jobs.
   By mid- October, that project count was 272 and climbing. Kentucky river counties showed 111 projects from July 2005 through mid- October, with Ohio counties boasting 71 and Pennsylvania counties 53. Among the leading counties by number of projects were:

Jefferson (Ky.): 58 Hamilton (Ohio): 40 Allegheny (Pa.): 36 Boone (Ky.): 19 Clermont (Ohio): 10 Beaver (Pa.): 9

   It's no surprise to many site seekers that half of the above counties (Hamilton, Boone and Clermont) are in the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky region. The metro was recently ranked 34th out of the 361 U.S. metros for its long- term economic vitality by William Fruth's Policom Corp., which evaluates growth in construction, retail and wage levels over many years, as well as growth or its lack in such "distress areas" as welfare and Medicaid payments.
   Certainly the Northern Kentucky suburbs are doing their share for project activity, including mixed- use projects in Covington and Newport from always active developer Corporex. On the corporate support front, the Northern Kentucky Tri- County Economic Development Corp. has partnered with Northern Kentucky University to develop a College of Informatics, and with Gateway Community and Technical College, which just received $28 million in funding from the Commonwealth to build a Center for Advanced Manufacturing Competitiveness.
   Downriver, the River Ridge Development Authority in Indiana has a couple of new facilities gracing the former Indiana Army Ammunition Plant: the 620,000- sq.- ft. (57,598- sq.- m.) Capstone Realty building, more spec development on the horizon and the facility just completed by St. Louis- based retail display fixture manufacturing, logistics and project management firm idX Corp., whose fixture and millwork clients include Nike, Microsoft, Ralph Lauren and Starbucks. Both facilities are on a 67- acre (27- hectare) site Capstone purchased in the 6,000 industrial park for development of at least 1 million sq. ft. (92,900 sq. m.).
   The new 320,000- sq.- ft. (29,728- sq.- m.) idX plant includes manufacturing, distribution and offices, and brings idX's total U.S. facilities to over 1.1 million square feet. The company plans to employ 100 people in Jeffersonville initially, growing to 190 over the next three years. The company's other U.S. facilities are in St. Louis, Seattle and Baltimore, while its international holdings include properties in Toronto and Shanghai.
   Across the river, military contractor BAE Systems is adding more than 90 jobs to its program supplying advanced gun systems to the U.S. Navy's new DDG 1000 destroyer. The company already employs 308 at its complex at the Airport Industrial Center, formerly known as Technology Park of Greater Louisville, which was once a Naval Ordnance center.
   "With the Navy's decision to go forward with the new destroyer, the company has the opportunity to grow elements of its business at its existing Louisville plant," said Keith Howe, BAE Systems' vice president and general manager for Armament Systems Division in Minneapolis. "This is the third new Navy gun program to be introduced at the facility in recent years as it joins the 57mm Mk 110 and the 25mm Mk 38."
   Doug Coffey, BAE Systems spokes- person, tells Site Selection that a lease negotiation obstacle at its Louisville site has been resolved "so that we felt comfortable going forward with growing at that park." He says the new positions are primarily higher- paying engineering jobs, and some of them are being relocated from Minneapolis. The Louisville site is also helping BAE supply transparent armor gun shields for the Marine Corps: "We're taking the capabilities of our various sites across the country, including Louisville, so we can meet a very aggressive fielding schedule," says Coffey of that program. "That's just added work that we brought in there in the last year or so. It looks like we'll be getting another contract for more shields, so I expect we would be continuing to do some of that work there for a while."
   The company has also recently been expanding facilities in York, Pa., and Anniston, Ala., for its vehicle repair and "re- set" work performed for the U.S. Army.
   At one time, Louisville was being considered for a separate 90- person, $41- million plant from BAE, for which the state had already ponied up $1.5 million in incentives. Coffey says Louisville is now off the table for the project, which is also examining several coastal candidate locations.