DUBOIS – On Thursday afternoon business and community leaders from across Clearfield County gathered for the annual Clearfield County Economic Development Corporation luncheon.
Rob Swales, CCEDC executive director, touched on highlights the CCEDC had in 2009.
“Two-thousand-nine has brought the completion of a major project,” said Swales. He referred to the reclamation and turnaround of the former Harbison-Walker site in Clearfield Borough. The site is now home to Pennsylvania’s first biorefinery.
Swales went through the history of the overall project, which he said began in 1997. From there, the brownfield was remediated and the Clearfield Technology Park was born.
“A major project came in,” said Swales. He referred to Bionol Clearfield LLC’s 110 million gallon/year ethanol production facility. With Bionol moving in, the CCEDC needed to relocate the businesses located in their multi-tenant building. Other businesses located in the park also relocated.
“We had quite a bit of work to do in relocating tenants and other manufacturers,” said Swales. “It’s nice to see that project (Bionol) come to fruition.”
He also touched on $400,000 in grant money the CCEDC dispersed for the removal of underground storage tanks. He said the majority of that went to Clearfield, DuBois and Curwensville.
Swales also talked about the Paris Cleaners expansion in the DuBois area. The $14 million project brought 40 jobs to the DuBois area and cost over $14 million. He noted that Clearfield County was in competition with Ohio for the expansion project.
Swales touched on 2010 but said he could not go into detail on anything yet. He talked about what the oil and gas well drilling industry could bring to the county. He said that one of the things many of the Marcellus Shale companies are looking for structures and sites. He said the EDC is currently working on a database to help those in that industry in Clearfield County.