Emery Economic development update

By Jordan Leonard

I wanted to take a moment and update you on a few of our plans to combat the downturn in coal and the fight directed at our power plants. Although our plants are being scrutinized, they are a necessity and hope we can keep them viable in the future. Currently, our local work force would be a perfect fit for manufacturing jobs. We have been looking at recruiting employers that will fit the skill set of those who have been laid off or are now unemployed. We are currently working with a company called PRT (Phoenix Renewable Technologies). They are working with Bronco coal mine. PRT manufactures coal into synthetic diesel and synthetic jet fuel. To begin, they would fill around 50 jobs and should grow from there. Currently, they are working on financing the project it is looking very good. The project should break ground this fall. We are trying to look at different angles to recruit heavy manufacturing as well as light manufacturing to our area and have been working on state and local incentives to entice them here.
Technology is another route we have been working on. Technology companies shy away from our area because of the lack of a skilled workforce. We have started a robotics club (that had over 20 young adults involved this first year) to teach them science, technology, engineering and math. We are currently in the process of buying java software to teach the young adults programming. The goal of these programs, is to create a skilled workforce in the technology sector that will hopefully stay in the area after graduation, or return after college, and open their own technology based businesses.
The Loan Eagle Initiative is another area we are focusing on. Lone Eagles are those who can work from anywhere, at home (usually via the internet).
Our hopes are to locate groups of people who would appreciate the lifestyle we can provide and entice them to relocate to Emery County. Make money out of the area and bring that money into our local economy.
One of these groups include the rock climbers up in Joe’s Valley. We are working closely with the Travel and Tourism Department to promote/improve our climbing areas to continue and attract these “lone eagles”. The bouldering festival is a great platform that gives us personal one-on-one contact with these climbers to see what they do and to try and recruit their technical skills to our area. We would also work closely with them to see if their business could expand or want to relocate to Emery County.
We are working on our business expansion and retention to help our current businesses expand and receive county support. We have had some success with these State grants and local incentives and have more in the process. We are also working with the World Trade Center of Utah for our businesses that export to try and help them sell more globally. We are trying to do our best for Emery County if you have any ideas or questions please call or come and visit 381-5576.