The Paducah Area Community Reuse Organization discussed an upcoming switchyard project for $100,000 in revenue from ongoing surplus asset transfers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant.
The project is the third of a larger project that began in 2020 and is half the size of that project’s prior commitment, which finished in March.
Executive Director Greg Wiles said about $5-$6 million of switchyard work remains.
“There’s a lot of money there; it’s just going to take some time to get it,” Wiles said. “It’s not going to happen as fast as we’d like it.”
As he described it, the “scaled-down” project entails copper and aluminum but no transformers.
“It’d have been great, in a perfect world, to finish that switchyard then keep it going,” he said. “I’d like to see half a million in a fiscal year, but I’m not sure that’s going to happen.”
PACRO, as a DOE-designated entity, identifies and reuses surplus assets to offset the economic impact of ceased plant operations.
In an asset update, Wiles mentioned “six or seven” large firewater pumps, a 300,000-gallon water tower, 100 electrical towers, two transformers and three Ford Escape SUVs.
PACRO members voted to set the financial reserve at $800,000 — enough to ensure five years of operations. In addition, at a future meeting, members intend to introduce grant request guidelines into PACRO’s bylaws.
Marshall County Judge-Executive and member Kevin Neal voiced caution on language that could paint PACRO into a corner.
“We have to be clear what the language says, because … we all have economic development projects in our counties,” Neal said. “I don’t want a document defining what a regional project is because, as the judge-executives and board members, we define regional projects.”
Members welcomed Jessica Pedersen — Property, Warehouse and Fleet Manager for Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership — as an executive committee in place of FRNP President and CEO Myrna Redfield.
On Sept. 19-20, Jones will attend the Paducah Area Chamber of Commerce’s DC Fly-In.
The next PACRO meeting is Sept. 28.
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