Bill to expand, modernize Appalachia

by Kiesha Jenkins
Senior State Writer

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a Senate bill on Feb. 26 adding four counties to Appalachia in the United States and creating a new fund to help regional businesses and communities gain greater access to technology.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, provides about $90 million for the next five years to the Appalachian Regional Commission’s non-highway programs— $20 million more than the current amount. House and Senate members will have to renew the program annually.

Chad Tanner, spokesman for Rep. Ted Strickland, D-Lucasville, said the bill is an amendment to the Appalachian Regional Development Act of 1965, a product of the Johnson Administration’s war on poverty. The current law expires this year.

President Bush requested a little more than $40 million for the ARC until 2004, Tanner said. Congress will not honor this request and plans to appropriate $90 million a year.

The agency had never received a five-year nod from Congress before, said ARC spokesman Duane DeBruyne.

“The fact that (this bill) authorizes more than the president has asked for shows that Congress feels the ARC is a valid and successful organization,” Tanner said.

Scott Milburn, a spokesman for Voinovich, said the senator sponsored the bill to help Appalachia move into the 21^st century.

“It goes back to his days as governor,” Milburn said. “He has always been a big booster of Appalachia and feels there are a lot of untapped resources in Appalachia that Ohio as a whole can benefit from.”

The bill also added a Voinovich-sponsored telecommunications program to bring broadband communications and help Appalachians learn to use and take advantage of this technology, he said.

About $33 million will go to programs such as the learning and technology lab at Washington State Community College in Marietta, which received a $104,357 grant from ARC to help the school offer computer instruction and courses via video and the Internet.

Milburn said Voinovich’s program is important because future businesses will rely on their employees being technologically efficient.

“A business in Pomeroy could, if it wanted to, sell its products in India or China or Argentina if customers in those markets can learn about products in Southeastern Ohio,” Milburn said. “Appalachia could have a presence in the global marketplace if businesses and people and students know how to use the technology.”

The bill also adds four counties to the region bringing the total number in the 13-state area to 410. The new counties are Hart and Edmonson counties in Kentucky and Panola and Montgomery counties in Mississippi.

DeBruyne said the addition was the result of the congressmen who represent those counties lobbying to have them added.

Ohio has 29 Appalachian counties, including Athens.

-The Associated Press contributed to this story.