OHIO RIVER CORRIDOR -- Site Selection magazine, November 2006

ARC Poised for Reauthorization

n July 2006, the U.S. Senate passed by unanimous consent the bill to reauthorize the Appalachian Regional Commission at $510.9 million over five years. The bill was introduced in May by Sen. George Voinovich (R- Ohio), who also authored the 2002 reauthorization bill that funded the ARC with $446 million over five years. The U.S. House of Representatives has yet to take action.
   According to Voinovich's office, ARC plays a key role in fostering economic development efforts serving 23 million people in 13 states. His due diligence during the course of this latest reauthorization included a field hearing in the Ohio River town of Marietta, in Washington County, which has recently seen expansions by utility equipment firm Leasco and oil and gas electronic controls firm EDI. Leasco built a new 60,000- sq.- ft. (5,574- sq.- m.) facility, and EDI is doubling its work force, both at locations along Ohio Highway 7, which follows the riverbank. Last year Marietta saw the construction of a new $50- million plant from Solvay Advance Polymers for the manufacture of sulfone polymers.
   In line with the projects discussed in these pages, the ARC has developed an energy blueprint for Appalachia that provides a strategic framework for the promotion of new energy- related job opportunities throughout the region.
   ARC invests in technology, work force training and other economic development projects. According to Voinovich's office, since ARC's inception in 1965, the region's poverty rate has been cut in half (from 31 percent to 13 percent), the infant mortality rate has been reduced by two- thirds and the percentage of adults with high school education has increased by over 70 percent.
   The bill directs the ARC annually to designate those counties that are "at risk" of becoming economically distressed, a codification of a practice the ARC itself recently adopted. The legislation permits ARC to fund projects in the "at risk" counties at up to 70 percent of the cost of the project. Under the previous law, these projects may only be funded at 50 percent (the match rate for most ARC counties), while projects in designated distressed counties can be funded at 80 percent of the project costs.
   The U.S. House Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management held a hearing in July at which ARC reauthorization was discussed and proposals were brought forth for ARC- like entities in other at- risk regions of the country. Those proposed organizations, all part of House- sponsored bills over the past two years, include the Northeast Regional Development Commission, the SouthEast Crescent Authority (448 counties in parts of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia) and the Southwest Regional Border Authority (for counties from Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas that fall within 150 miles (241 km.) of the U.S.- Mexico Border). Other existing regional authorities include the Delta Regional Authority (240 counties in eight states along the Mississippi Delta), the Northern Great Plains Regional Commission and the Denali Commission (Alaska).