Northumberland County's coal to fund future

By Rick Dandes
The Daily Item

October 02, 2008 07:47 am

— SHAMOKIN — Northumberland County hopes to begin selling its vast reserves of anthracite coal to Brazil and China and use profits to attract companies that create renewable energy.
Returning to its past will help the county fund its future, county planning director Stephen D. Bartos said Wednesday during the unveiling of the FUTURES project at Northumberland County Career and Arts Center.
FUTURES — Fossil Underwriting Technology to Utilize Renewable Energy Sources — aims to create jobs by providing a business-friendly environment for research, development and investment in alternative, renewable energy sources, and high-tech manufacturing.
In the beginning, coal will drive the project.
“Coal,” Bartos said, “is king again.”
“This,” Commissioner Vinny Clausi said, “is Northumberland County’s future.”
U.S. Rep. Chris Carney, who attended the press conference, said, “... 50 years later, we’ll take the energy of the past and make it into the energy of the future.”
Carney, D-10, of Dimock, said he would pledge federal support for the program, which would make use of the 2 million tons of high-grade anthracite coal that Bartos said the seven-county area produces each year.
“For the next two years, every ton of coal sold is under contract before it’s even dug out of the ground,” Bartos said. “There are two new mines coming on line, and we have 10,000 acres of land to lease.”
Northumberland County last year took in about $500,000 in coal royalties, Bartos said.
“I could see that number doubling or tripling, but easily quadrupling, over the next couple of years,” Bartos said. “We hope to be selling coal to China and Brazil, for example, which will mean more revenue to apply to these renewable energy sustainable companies.”
The strategy, Bartos said, is to bridge the gap from fossil fuels to renewable, sustainable energy, so that even if the commodities wane, the energy business will still drive the county’s economy.
Northumberland County hopes its plan attracts a portion of the $650 million in matching funds Gov. Rendell has pledged in his statewide energy independence strategy, Bartos said.
“No other municipality yet has a plan,” Bartos said. “We have rolled out a very detailed plan. It’s ready to go. It lays out specific goals and criteria, and how we’ll go after funding. We’ll be the first one in line to get some of those funds.”
State Sen. John Gordner, R-27, Berwick, and state Reps. Robert E. Belfanti Jr., D-107, Mount Carmel, and Merle Phillips, R-108, Sunbury RR2, said they also would work to secure those funds.
The project’s potential seemed to excite county Commissioners Frank J. Sawicki, Kurt A. Masser and Clausi.
If Wednesday’s rollout of the strategy was a first step, the next step is attracting companies to the county, Clausi said.
“If we just sit back quietly in our chairs, we won’t accomplish anything,” Clausi said. “Are we going to be successful? We don’t know yet. But we’ll try. Because in the end, it’s all about bringing good-paying, family sustaining jobs, not minimum-wage jobs. I want our legacy to be that we created jobs.”
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