1 / 15

Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission

Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission. “To promote economic growth and development in tobacco dependent communities.”. Tobacco Commission Overview. Created in 1999 as political subdivision of Commonwealth under Code of VA

arch
Download Presentation

Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission “To promote economic growth and development in tobacco dependent communities.”

  2. Tobacco Commission Overview • Created in 1999 as political subdivision of Commonwealth under Code of VA • 31 member Commission of elected officials (10), Cabinet members (3), tobacco growers (6), citizens (gubernatorial appointees). • Two-fold mission, using 50% of annual tobacco settlement payments - indemnify tobacco growers and quota holders for lost production opportunities, and • economic revitalization of tobacco-dependent region • Strategic Plan, Annual Report on website

  3. Tobacco Commission regions Southside & Southwest 34 counties, seven cities, 1 million residents

  4. Restructuring a Regional Economy • Regional economies historically based on tobacco, textiles, furniture, coal, etc. (low wage, education not required) • What exactly is “economic revitalization” and what does that include/involve? • If you have a windfall of money, how should you use it to accomplish “economic revitalization?”

  5. Signature investments • Education – expanding availability of career training “ladders” from GED to community college to bachelors and beyond • Broadband – nearly 1,700 miles of new, robust, affordable, open-access fiber • Replacing lost jobs with global industries investing in fully-served sites (e.g. IKEA, Tempur Pedic, Pepsi/Gatorade) including mega-sites/projects • Create a new R&D presence leading to commercialization in energy, agriculture, motorsports, modeling & simulation, nanotech etc.

  6. Agribusiness grants • Value-added diversification, providing new income for producers from sales outside the region • Examples: beef cattle handling/genetics; aquaculture; viticulture; organic crops; dairy comfort; bee colonies; hair sheep; farmers markets; bio-energy …

  7. Fuels from plant feedstocks Grant in 2006 to VT and Windy Acres Nursery (Gretna) to demonstrate pyrolysis process for producing bio-diesel and additional products using plant materials and proprietary catalysts

  8. Two demo sites now producing diesel(VT and Piedmont Bioproducts)

  9. R&D centers Centers funded in mid-2008 for construction/development: Wise Tech Park Region 2000/CAER Piedmont Bioproducts nanotechnology nuclear biomass SwVHEC IALR SENTEC Riverstone VT/HEF coal biomass clean energy M&S

  10. Ethanol on its way Osage barley-fed plant in Hopewell (under construction) and Chase City (planned) Hopewell Chase City (Mecklenburg)

  11. Private investments announced(90 jobs, $13.4 million private investment) Synergy bio diesel (Lee) Donnachaidh poplars Lignetics pellets (Pittsylvania) (Lunenburg)

  12. Major investments to come …

  13. Biomass South - Sept 2008 • Southern Co (AL & GA Power)– working to convert coal-fired plants to wood/s-grass fired • Range Fuels– cellulosic plant in Soperton GA underway (wood torrefaction, s-grass, sorghum) • UT/DuPont Danisco/Genencor– pilot corncob/ s-grass refinery (grower contracts) • Fibrowatt - poultry litter to energy, plants in PA & NC • OK Bioenergy Ctr– s-grass/sorghum test plots • MSU – research on extracting oil from wastewater • biofuelsjournal.com; southern.org June 7-9, Biloxi

  14. Outcomes for tobacco region • Private capital investment = tax revenue • Job creation = personal income • Agricultural income from feedstock production • Research capability and IP licensing • Cleaner, more affordable, locally-produced fuels for businesses, institutions etc. • Attract and retain dollars in the local economy

  15. Questions? For additional info, or to discuss a potential project: Neal Noyes, Executive Director (804) 225-2027 neal.noyes@tic.virginia.gov Ned Stephenson, Deputy Director (804) 786-7690 ned.stephenson@tic.virginia.gov Tim Pfohl, Grants Director (804) 786-2403 tim.pfohl@tic.virginia.gov Sarah Capps, Grant Administrator – Southern VA (434) 432-7203 sarah.capps@tic.virginia.gov Sara Williams, Grant Administrator – Southwest (276) 619-4325 sara.williams@tic.virginia.gov www.tic.virginia.gov or toll free (877) 807-1086

More Related