During the first Carbon County Commission meeting of the 2022 year, Commissioner Larry Jensen made a special announcement on upcoming public hearings and events for a grant opportunity.
He began by stating that there is a need for coal-reliant communities to receive additional assistance in diversifying their economies in order to retain local residents. The federal government has committed large amounts of funding to coal-reliant communities and a grant process began some time ago in order to secure some of this funding.
A fairly large amount of money is available in step one of this grant process, according to Commissioner Jensen, and the state of Utah asked for some possible areas where that money could be used.
A group was organized consisting of Carbon, Emery, Grand and San Juan county representatives to discuss using some of the funding that may be available to enhance the San Rafael Research Center in Emery County. The idea of the grant was to also include a region in it, thus presenting the question of how the region could benefit and what could be completed in Carbon County and the surrounding areas during the transition away from coal.
Commissioner Jensen stated that there was a lot of effort that went into this, with an application that was completed and spearheaded by the Association of Local Governments (AOG).
The application was chosen by the state of Utah to be the application submitted to the federal government out of nearly 600 applicants. The area was chosen to be awarded the first round and Carbon County’s part of that would involve the airport and some expansion to the university’s need for its flight or airplane mechanics course.
This will require a new building and a hangar for students as they disassemble planes, fix them and learn about the mechanics. The university would receive some money in this grant as well that would help it expand some of its training and assist future industries.
County representatives have scheduled public meetings in what is called the Build Back Inaugural Tour. On Jan. 13 and 14, there are several events that will occur and the public has been invited.
Beginning Jan. 13 at 6 p.m. in the atrium of the Business Technical Assistance Center (BTAC), the first public meeting is being hosted where all those involved will be able to interact with the community.
Following this, on Jan. 14, a tour of the aviation campus project at the airport will kick off the day at 10:30 a.m. At noon, there will be lunch at the BTAC before presentations are hosted at the USU Eastern campus beginning at 1:30 p.m.
Following this, the focus will shift to Emery County as the San Rafael Research Center will be visited in Orangeville at 3:30 p.m. Then, the second public meeting will be hosted, along with dinner, that evening at 6 p.m. in Castle Dale.
Anybody that is interested in learning more about this grant opportunity or wanting to be part of it is welcome to attend. Commissioner Jensen stated that it would be helpful not only for information, but it is helpful in the next step and trying to secure the second round of funding, which is a significant amount of money.