Governor’s ERT talk about JoCo challenges
From our weekly issue dated October 14, 2009
Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski (IVN file photo)
Members of Gov. Kulongoski’s Economic Revitalization Team (ERT) visited Josephine County last week, with stops in Grants Pass and Illinois Valley.
On Wednesday, Oct. 7, ERT met at the Siskiyou Field Institute’s (SFI) Deer Creek Center in Selma. There, the group heard presentations from SFI Executive Director Arnie Green and Josephine County Commissioner Dave Toler.
Green discussed the functions of SFI and the educational opportunities it provides for university and K-12 students, along with the benefits of eco-tourism. Toler gave a presentation in tandem with Bear Mountain Forest Products on wood bricks and the need for a biomass production center in Josephine County.
“We talked a lot about the general concept of the need to put biomass on the same plane as you will other renewable energy,” Toler said. “It’s a way of creating jobs by creating an energy source that’s right here.”
Promoting biomass has consumed much of Toler’s time during the past several months, he said. He added that his emphasis is on producing employment opportunities and cleaner air at the same time.
Toler points out that 90 percent of the money Oregonians spend on energy goes out of the state, and that biomass can help keep those dollars circulating in the local economy.
Also discussed by Toler were land-use issues.
“We talked about our challenge in creating enough industrial lands for the county to produce family wage jobs,” he said.
ERT visited Grants Pass on Thursday, Oct. 8. Team members toured Encore Ceramics and Electronic Sub-Assembly Manufacturing (ESAM) at Spalding Industrial Park, then had lunch with Commissioner Dwight Ellis at Evergreen Federal Bank’s Bear Hotel.
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Evergreen President Brady Adams provided a tour and a slideshow of the bank’s various community events, Ellis said. Grants Pass Mayor Mike Murphy also addressed ERT, and discussed that city’s recent recall of five city councilors, the positive relationship between the city and county and the opening of a new call center downtown, with the anticipation of hundreds of jobs.
Also visited by ERT members was the site of Savage Rapids Dam, which was breached the following day, Friday, Oct. 9.
Toler said that the ERT visit was largely beneficial for all involved.
“I think they were pretty engaged,” Toler said. “They learned a lot.”
ERT is headed by Ray Naff, who serves as director of intergovernmental relations for Kulongoski’s office. Also present from the governor’s office was Jeff Griffin, the regional coordinator for Southwest Oregon, and members of several state agencies, including the Dept. of Environmental Quality, Dept. of Energy, Dept. of Forestry and the Dept. of Land Conservation and Development.
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