Pro-Business Climate Wins Investment in Region
Published Mar 27, 2006
Johnny Coker is plant manager at Arden Paradise in Amarillo.
Odessa, famed for its Permian Basin oilfields and Friday night football, finds itself poised to strike new Texas paydirt.
The West Texas city will contend for a $1 billion coal-electric plant – called FutureGen – that will produce near-zero unhealthy emissions. It’s a federal project to be bankrolled by the Department of Energy with a 20-percent share from a private energy alliance.
Construction would begin in 2008, with thousands of jobs created over the next decade and some valuable research positions funneled into the region. Their goal: to reduce global warming through innovation.
“We have the natural resources out here to do that,” says Odessa businessman Dick Sivalls, citing a staple of the Texas High Ground economy that will be an ace up the region’s sleeve. Carbon dioxide as a byproduct of gasified coal would be pumped into oilfields, helping ferret out oil reserves that haven’t been recoverable to date.
That would make FutureGen a boon in multiple ways.
Such value-added projects are becoming a way of life in The High Ground region that stretches from Odessa to include the entire Texas Panhandle.
Near the top of the Panhandle, Hilmar Cheese will invest $190 million in a state-of-the-art cheese factory spawning 10 new independent dairies and creating 1,500 jobs beyond the 350 Dalhart factory workers.
Long a leading livestock region with 4.3 million cattle, the High Ground will move its focus beyond beef to build a leadership stake in dairy cattle. State and local leaders recognized California-based Hilmar could diversify an already strong cradle of agriculture, one that accounts for 60 percent of all corn and cotton and 86 percent of all hogs raised in Texas. And they delivered enticing incentives.
“As a rural West Texan, I’m particularly proud that this amounts to the largest investment of enterprise fund dollars for a rural expansion,” Gov. Rick Perry said at a late 2005 announcement granting $7.5 million from the Texas Enterprise Fund. But The High Ground leveraged much more: $46 million in incentives, including $10 million in dairy equipment tax breaks, $6.7 million for infrastructure, $12 million in Dalhart tax abatements, $2.4 million for job services and a $5 million Amarillo Economic Development Corp. grant.
Such projects demonstrate an extraordinary commitment to a business-friendly climate. But The High Ground delivers results, too.
For example, in Amarillo a $1.6 million incentive tied to job creation lured Arden Companies from its Michigan home base. The company, which makes replacement cushions, also gained later incentives to install polyester fiber fill equipment for its outdoor seat cushions and pet beds.
Amarillo became an enviable choice when Arden sought a manufacturing site for replacement cushions that could also double as a distribution facility.
“We wanted to be located where we could serve the whole center of the United States,” says Arden Paradise plant manager Johnny Coker, who has operated in Amarillo for more than a decade now.
The Odessa region vying for FutureGen helped PSEG Global bring a 1,000-megawatt gas-fired electric plant online in 2001. It uses one-third less fuel and water than conventional plants and powers 500,000 homes in Texas.
And the results of Lubbock’s Reese Technology Center are astounding. The former 2,500-acre jet fighter training base was one of 97 installations closed by the federal government in the 1990s.
Today, it’s the only one that’s self-sustaining, bustling with seven companies, 621 employees and 4,200 students of South Plains College. A technology focus is expected to leverage a multimillion-dollar facility for rail and truck shipping. And there are purely natural reasons for forecasting a sunny High Ground business climate, says Reese director Eric Williams.
“You’ve got an average of 278 days where the temperature is above 70 degrees – not too shabby,” he says. “You’ve got great values in housing, great schools and you can get anywhere in town in 15 minutes. It’s a great place to do business, and it’s fun.”
Story by Gary Perilloux
Photo by Antony Boshier
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