Regional Chamber doles out awards at annual meeting

March 15, 2019 at 12:08a.m.

BOARDMAN

Despite the likely effects the closing of the General Motors Assembly Complex in Lordstown will have on the Mahoning Valley’s industrial base, reasons remain to be optimistic about the region’s future, a local business leader contends.

“Moving forward, the Valley’s future and tomorrow look bright. We will prevail,” said James Dignan, the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber’s president and chief executive officer. “We have $2 billion [for economic development] in the pipeline.”

Dignan cited key projects at the chamber’s 2019 annual meeting and breakfast Thursday morning at Mr. Anthony’s Banquet Center, 7440 South Ave., that he said could offset some of the impact from the estimated 1,500 jobs lost that took place after the 53-year-old assembly plant’s closing last week.

He mentioned the TJX/HomeGoods distribution center on Ellsworth-Bailey Road in Lordstown that could create about 1,000 jobs and for which groundbreaking is set for April.

Dignan also pointed to the Lordstown Energy Center, a power plant that donated $15,000 last December to the Drive It Home campaign to assist and display solidarity with the GM workers and their families.

An estimated 300 people who represented a multitude of businesses attended the two-hour gathering, said Kim Calvert, the chamber’s vice president of marketing and mentoring services.

Keynote speaker was Alex Epstein, founder and president of the Center for Industrial Progress, a for-profit think tank that promotes the idea of using technology to improve the planet’s sustainability via the manufacturing, energy, mining and agriculture industries.

“Fossil fuels have unique positives that far outweigh any negatives,” and produce reliable energy for billions of people, he contended.

All types of energy production have inherent risks and side effects, but many of today’s conversations related to the subject are biased in favor of solar and wind energy, said Epstein, who called the two forms “unreliables.”

“The more affordable and abundant a reliable energy is, the more affordable everything else is,” Epstein said, adding that technology exists to make their use cleaner and less detrimental to the environment.

Dr. Jimmie Bruce, Eastern Gateway Community College’s president, was this year’s William G. Lyden Jr. Spirit of the Valley Award winner. David Coy, president and general manager of Nexstar Broadcasting Inc., won the Donald Cagigas Spirit of the Chamber Award.

Bruce said EGCC is offering free tuition to those impacted by the GM Assembly Complex’s closing.