October-December, 2008 No.2
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A Clean Energy Strategy Could Bring New Life to the Illinois Economy
Vision 20-20: Developing a Regional Economic Vision
Vision 20-20: Developing a Regional Economic Vision
Vision 20-20 is a collaborative effort to construct a local economic framework for the future. The integration of economic development, workforce development and education is the focus of a Regional Integration Grant proposal submitted to the U. S. Department of Labor in August, 2008 by Madison County on behalf of the seven counties represented by the Madison-Bond and Mid America Local Workforce Investment Boards. Those counties are Madison, Bond, St. Clair, Clinton, Washington, Monroe and Randolph. This roughly approximates the Illinois Section of the St. Louis Metropolitan Area with the exclusion of Calhoun, Jersey and Macoupin counties and the inclusion of Washington County. The designation of southwestern Illinois will serve to describe the geographic parameters determined by the service area of both local workforce investment boards as they collaborate to determine the challenges facing the local workforce and implement realistic short and long-term strategies to support and transform growth and opportunity in the region.
The Vision 20-20 Steering Group includes leadership from Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity; the Leadership Council-Southwestern Illinois and other economic development professionals; the Southwestern Illinois Central Labor Council, AFL CIO; Conoco Phillips Wood River Refi nery, and the Bank of Edwardsville. Education and workforce development stakeholders include Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville; Lewis and Clark Community College, Southwestern Illinois College, Madison and St. Clair counties’ board chairmen and regional superintendents of schools working in association with professionals serving on the local workforce investment boards.
The process involves six phases: Initiate; Assess; Benchmark; Vision; Mobilize and Track. The local workforce investment boards, partners in business and local leaders in education will collaborate with leaders in state and federal government to meet the demands of the transition to the renewable and cleaner energy economy as the region’s “green economy” emerges.
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The broad range of industries within the green job initiative emphasizes sustainable processes or “clean” energy. Examples evident in the region include ethanol production, generation of electricity from “clean coal” and reducing emissions in refi ning processes. Stakeholders in the southwestern region have embraced the challenges and are initiating another step in the creation of a shared vision for the twenty-fi rst century workforce.
The National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center opened on the Southern Illinois University campus in 2003. The effort to develop alternative, renewable energy resulted in some 49 ethanol plants in Illinois, either already operational, under construction, or being planned since 2000, when only four existed. In September 2008, Governor Rod Blagojevich announced a $4 million grant to Abengoa Bioenergy for their $275 million ethanol plant currently under construction in the Tri-City Port Authority. Center Ethanol opened in Sauget April 2008 and will produce up to 54 million gallons of ethanol per year.
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency received an application for a permit from SWI Energy in Alton for a dry-mill ethanol plant that could produce 66 million gallons a year. Prairie State Energy Campus, the “clean coal” electricity generating station in Washington County currently under construction, is expected to be operational in 2012. According to Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s 2003 Prairie State economic study prepared
by Dr. Jim Musumeci, an associate professor offinance in SIUC’s College of Business and Administration, the direct and indirect benefit will result in $2.8 billion injected into the Illinois economy over thirty years.
Over the course of development and operation, the study also shows that Prairie State would:
• Generate more than $200 million in new taxes for state and local governments;
• Create an average of 1,850 jobs per year while the mine and power plant are under construction;
• Create about 39,600 job-years of employment for Illinois, with each job year representing employment for one person for one year.
ConocoPhillips Wood River Refinery in Madison County was issued an air permit for a new $2 billion coke oven project in August 2008. Canadian oil sands from Calgary, Alberta will be processed into petrochemical products. The applications will include fuel for aircraft, motor vehicles and a variety of plastics, fi bers, coolants and antifreeze. The refinery expansion is expected to take two years, adding 100 new full-time jobs along with up to 2,500 construction jobs. The state-of-the-art pollution control technology will significantly reduce emissions, with a 95 percent reduction in sulfur dioxide and a 25 percent reduction in nitrogen oxides.
Challenges resulting from rising energy costs bring opportunity. Identifying the needed skills, developing appropriate training programs, and training workers for jobs in “green” industries will ultimately require partnerships with all stakeholders. Stakeholders in the southwestern region have embraced the challenges and are initiating the process to create a vision for the twenty-first century workforce
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