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ARC important funding source for region

Recently you have advocated for the elimination of the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), writing that it is a waste of taxpayer dollars. We respectfully disagree. The ARC is a vital source of funding for projects in low income distressed communities. You recently ran a feature article about sewer issues in small, low income communities like Auburn and Crown. The town of Reedy, a similar type community, was recently funded for improvements to the town’s wastewater treatment system, improvements the town would not be able to afford without ARC assistance.

Another recent example of ARC funding making it possible to address basic infrastructure needs is the Leafbank water extension by Pleasant Hill PSD in Calhoun County. Many residents of Leafbank, Klipstine, Upper Back Fork and Leading Creek roads suffered without enough water to meet basic human needs. Due to the rural nature and rugged terrain, extension of public water service by Pleasant Hill PSD was expensive and would not have been within reach or income levels of the community without ARC assistance.

Funding from ARC also helps communities provide public infrastructure to support private investment. For example, Clay Roane PSD used an ARC grant to extend water to Amma Industrial Park supporting two lumber companies’ expansions. Going back further ARC assisted with the development of the Jackson County Industrial Centre after Kaiser Aluminum laid off 2,000 employees in the 1980s. Companies like Star Plastics and many others have helped diversify Jackson County’s economy, in part because ARC helped pay for water, sewer, and rail spurs to serve the Industrial Centre.

Since the ARC’s creation, the number of high-poverty counties in Appalachia has fallen from 295 in 1960 to 91 today, the infant mortality rate has been reduced by two-thirds, and the percentage of high school graduates has doubled. In West Virginia, the number of distressed counties has been reduced from 27 to eight in just the last 15 years. ARC works!

One of the main reasons it works is that, unlike other federal programs, the ARC is a grassroots driven process. It is a federal, state and local partnership. Additionally, ARC is one of the most efficient federal programs. Often, ARC gives its funding to another federal agency involved in a project rather than duplicating the administration of those funds.

The budget for the Appalachian Regional Commission is a very, very small part of the federal budget. However, it is a worthy investment of taxpayer dollars that provides needed assistance to meet basic human needs in distressed communities. We believe that if more federal programs were run like ARC the country would be better off.

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Carol Jackson is executive director of the Mid Ohio Valley Regional Council, which receives funding assistance from the Appalachian Regional Commission. The MOVRC’s “MOV Tomorrow: Building Communities for Tomorrow’s Economy” document serves as the regional development plan under the Appalachian Regional Commission for this region.

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