Port Application Outlines Regional Impact

The ripple effect from an operational port in Port St. Joe would enhance the economic prospects for the Northwest Florida region, as outlined in an application for a federal stimulus grant.

At a time when unemployment in the county is near 10 percent, a number many surrounding counties are familiar with, and short-term economic hopes are pinned to a hospital and an estimated 90-plus jobs at opening next March as well as a biomass plant and 200 construction jobs next year, the Port Authority’s vision, though longer-term, provides an even bigger bang for the buck.

Tied as it is to the creation of a “green” industrial park along the Intracoastal Canal just north of a proposed biomass plant currently in permitting, the Port Authority envisions an operational port that will create 334 direct jobs in the county and 336 in the extended region during construction. Other employment related to port construction would add 615 jobs in the region.

After construction, 26 direct permanent jobs in the county and 40 more private sector jobs in the region would be the result of an operational port.

As for the industrial park, the location of which is no accident given the proximity to the port, construction could mean 1,635 direct jobs and 2,748 related jobs in the region.

The private sector businesses expected at the park once construction is completed are expected to create 82 direct permanent jobs and another 137 jobs in the region.

These would be jobs paying more than $37,300 annually, or roughly $7,000 above the county’s average annual salary.

“This project will create an immediate regional economic stimulus through the construction period and will create well-paying permanent port and port-related jobs in the public and private sectors once construction is completed,” the application indicates.

There is considerable weight being thrown behind the Port Authority’s application for a Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program grant.

Part of the American Reinvestment and Renewal Act (ARRA), these stimulus funds are specifically targeted at seaports. The Port Authority seeks funding of $39.1 million.

Congressman Allen Boyd, Sen. Bill Nelson, state Sen. Al Lawson, state Reps. Marti Coley and Jimmy Patronis, the county, municipalities, Chamber of Commerce, Economic Development Council are just a sampling of those who have provided letters of support to the Port Authority’s application.

There are also several developments that have helped drive the TIGER grant application and the creation of the green industrial park.

One is the widening of the Panama Canal to accommodate the larger and larger cargo ships being built and put into use around the world.

An opening for trade with South and Central American countries, as well as those in the Caribbean, is there for one of Florida’s 14 deepwater ports, the only one of the 14 not yet developed into an operational port.

The Port Authority is also expecting the governor and Florida Cabinet to sign off next month on a land swap that will finalize the near-50 year lease the Port Authority has on land north of the old mill site and owned by the St. Joe Company.

St. Joe is swapping land near the St. Joseph Bay Buffer Preserve and elsewhere in the county in exchange for the state submerged lands that would allow the Port Authority to expand and enhance its access to the federally-designated shipping channel.

The Port Authority, as part of its lease for the land north of the mill site, also has secured a shorter term lease for the mill site bulkhead to facilitate quicker development through, in connection to its existing barge bulkhead along the Intracoastal canal, generation of a revenue stream on a more accelerated timeline.

Math is also in the port’s favor. According to a Florida Department of Transportation report, state investment in seaports yields $6.90 per $1 of investment.

The “green” industrial park dovetails with the port project.

Gulf County was selected by Florida’s Great Northwest, a regional economic development organization, as a potential site for one of several such parks in the region.

That vision began to take shape with the arrival – on a separate track – of the biomass plant proposed for the old Materials Transfer site along the Intracoastal Canal.

The governor has made a transition to providing at least 20 percent of the state’s energy needs through renewable energy in the next decade a priority. There is also a national push toward renewable energy sources, a driver in the Port Authority’s application as well as Florida’s Great Northwest desire to create “green” industrial parks in the region.

“Florida’s commitment to developing alternative fuels and making this country independent of foreign oil within 10 years is particularly clear in Northwest Florida, which is being called the ‘go-to region’ for biomass energy plants looking for a home,” detailed a August 2009 article in Florida Trend magazine.

Particularly when a park will be home to plants or companies that will make advantageous use of the region’s natural resources, specifically forests.

Wood pellet production and shipping – along with ethanol, aggregates and other cargo – figures prominently in the future of an operational port in Gulf County and could be a feature of an industrial park. Forest residue and fast-growing grasses are key fuels for the biomass plant.

A final piece has been an understanding between the Port Authority and the Genessee & Wyoming Railroad concerning interest in a rail connector between the port and industrial park that would ultimately lead to connection to intermodal centers to the north.

“This project – the construction of a deepwater green energy port and rail connection to a nearby Green Energy Industrial Park – will deliver (federal and state) programmatic results, stimulate the regional economy by expanding economic activity and job creation, and achieve long-term public benefits …,” the application reads in part.

The TIGER grants funds would effectively carry the Port Authority through the second phase of its development.

Construction of the port components on the 60-acre tract north of the old mill site, including dredging of a turn basin, bulkhead work and upland improvements as well as construction of a rail connector between the port and industrial park would be the big ticket items.

Engineering and surveying costs would also be underwritten along with contingency and construction inspection and engineering fees.

“Receipt of the TIGER grant funds will not only result in the near-term impacts and benefits of construction expenditures, but will also result in deepwater seaport capability by late 2011 and the anticipated permanent jobs and economic benefits (detailed in the application),” the application summarizes.

The application was submitted in September. A final determination – and Port Authority officials are cautiously optimistic of receiving the grant – will come soon after the first of the year.

The Port Authority is pursuing environmental permitting for its proposed development and the entire project is expected to be completed by February 2012, depending on funding.