Economic discussions underway

When the Troy Mine closed, John Rogers, chief business officer for the Montana Governor’s Office, contacted Lincoln County Commissioner Greg Larson to see what the the administration could do to help.

“We try to reach out to communities where that kind of thing happens,” Rogers said.

Larson has been acquainted with Rogers from his days at the United States Economic Development Administration. “Government programs often kick in to help provide retraining opportunities for displaced workers when large layoffs occur,” Larson said. But they also planned to talk about large-scale economic plans for Lincoln County, he said.

Well that time is now, as the initial phone discussion on that topic took place Feb. 20. On the line were members of the Governor’s Economic Development office, Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, Eureka Rural Development, Lincoln County Port Authority and Lincoln County commissioners.

The meeting was an attempt to help jump-start efforts to address the economic development needs of Lincoln County, which continues to have the highest unemployment rate in the state.

Rogers invited the commissioners to join members of their staff at the Global Petroleum Show in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in early June. “We’d also like to take some businesses that are interested in doing business across the border,” Rogers said. Across the northwest businesses are taking the opportunity to supply products for the Canadian oil boom, and Lincoln County’s proximity could prove beneficial for such a purpose.

He also recommended for vacant business properties to be placed on the state Economic Development Site Selector website to help their marketability.

Tina Oliphant, executive director at the Lincoln County Port Authority, expressed several ideas she felt would showcase the Kootenai Business Park as an ideal home for commercial ventures. An updated and expanded rail spur from the port to the main line would make the area much more attractive to business. She said it’s one thing that could be done at the port that may not have immediate benefits. “But if we don’t get on these projects, where will we be in two years,” Oliphant said. An updated spur would provide current and prospective businesses on the property a cost-effective means of transporting their goods.

When the Troy Mine was active, they brought their product to the port and used the reload facility to load an ore car that would be pushed out to the spur and picked up by Burlington Northern Santa Fe. A grandfather agreement between the mine and the rail company obliged them to haul the mine’s ore from the spur. “That’s the only one they would service, if any new tenants in there wanted to use the rail they wouldn’t service them because of the condition of our rail,” Brett McCully, port authority director of operations, said while offering a tour of the site to The Western News.

If repaired, McCully said, “Any heavy industry that set up shop on the property would come in and out on the rail. The finger jointer would put their product on it immediately, and the post-and-pole might also.”

The railroad has been talking with McCully lately, and he likes what he’s heard from them. “I’m pretty intrigued that they’re talking with us right now, they’re very interested,” he said.

Line-blockage is an issue the port authority site could help to alleviate for the rail industry. With only one track running through the area, any stoppage on the main line can hold up trains loaded with billions in oil from the Bakken.

Burlington Northern Santa Fe could also store unused rail cars at the port authority site for a fee. “We could generate revenue that way also,” said McCully.

He said intermodal transportation of goods is another avenue where the rail spur could be utilized. That entails trucks bringing goods to the port, which would then be loaded on rail for further transport. “If diesel goes back to four bucks a gallon the train has such a huge advantage, cost-wise, over trucking,” McCully said.

The Lincoln County Port Authority was awarded a $23,000 grant, which they’ll match, to have a thorough examination of the spur and a preliminary design put together that would be agreeable to the railroad. McCully said the port authority recently had a meeting with the Department of Commerce where they discussed how additional grant money could be directed their way after the preliminary funding report is completed.

With a discharge permit, settling ponds and rights to 11 million gallons of water daily, the port could prove attractive for future businesses.

Like many in Libby, the port authority is also waiting for a record of decision from the Environmental Protection Agency so they can move forward with projects and clear any hurdles to remove the Superfund stigma from their reputation. Rogers said, “The record of decision has been getting in the way of federal money going to the business park. That’s something we may be weighing in on.”

Bob Harrington, of Montana’s Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, said the recently passed Farm Bill nominated land outside of the roadless and wilderness in Kootenai National Forest for project work, like timber management, to be carried out with less red tape. “The hope and the promise is that the agency would have the ability to use streamlined authorities and conduct analysis more quickly. And towards that end, the state of Montana and the DNRC have committed a million dollars we are investing in Forest Service projects to help move them along,” Harrington said.

One such proposal being considered for financial aid comes from the Lincoln County commissioners and the Kootenai National Forest Stakeholders Coalition to do a comprehensive analysis of 400,000 acres of previously managed lands. Harrington said,

“We haven’t made a decision yet, but I’m thinking it’s likely we’re going to invest in that and become a partner in that project,” he said.

Harrington said there are plenty of other areas on the forest not previously managed that are ripe for treatment. “The new buzz term being thrown around is ‘increasing the pace and scale’ of activity on national forest land in Montana,” he said.

To that end, the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation has a liaison working at the Region One Forest Service Office to help implement the Farm Bill and facilitate further collaborations.

Larson sees the phone meeting as a good first step. By continuing to identify possible projects, the county can look into what programs are available to get them off of the ground. “It’s frustrating, but we have to keep looking to the future. I do think we are going to turn something around,” Larson said.