The two lead stories in Wednesday’s Times-Reporter offered a very promising outlook for area business. Lauren Mfg. at New Philadelphia and the United Steelworkers of America reached an agreement for a record 64-month contract, while a proposed ethanol plant in Harrison County received a $500,000 block grant from the Ohio Department of Development.

The Lauren contract provides a basis of long-term stability for the local facilities, which employ 250 workers, while the ethanol plant could add another 160 or more jobs for the Cadiz area.

Moreover, one of the biggest economic boosts remains on the horizon. This area still is under consideration for the FutureGen emissions-free energy generation plant. On Tuesday the U.S. Department of Energy signed an agreement with the FutureGen Industrial Alliance to build the $1 billion plant.

While 21 states have expressed an interest, Ohio, Texas and Illinois are the front-runners, reports Tuscarawas County Commun- ity Improvement Corp. Director Heinz Stucki, and the Tuscarawas Valley’s four-county consortium well could offer the best site in the Buckeye State. A short list will be announced in mid-2006 with final selection in 2007 and initiation of operations in 2012.

That sounds like a long time away, but considering the stakes (literally thousands of jobs for operation, construction and support services), it is worth the intensive effort to land FutureGen.

The Times Reporter December 8, 2005