Letter to the Editor: Economic development requires private investments

The Illinois Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (CGFA) released a report in June of this year criticizing Illinois’ poor economic performance. This was based on economic growth, total nonfarm payroll employment, unemployment rate, and total personal income. This is obviously not a great note coming from CGFA, a bipartisan commission of twelve legislators. But there are ways we can turn these indicators around and improve our state’s economic performance and outlook. One great way is by bringing in businesses that bring with them employment and economic incentive.

Thanks to CN and Wisconsin Central LTD, that’s exactly what is happening.

CN Railway and Wisconsin Central LTD are working to build a state-of-the art intermodal facility and logistics hub between Minooka and Channahon, bringing with it good-paying jobs, economic stimulation, and efficient connections to export markets.

As a former state representative, I have spent a fair amount of my career focused on ways that we can successfully build up our local economies in ways that work for every stakeholder. As one would expect, when our communities and economies are growing and thriving, our small businesses are likely to follow suit. We should look for ways that support private investments like this proposed facility that will directly improve all of those indicators CGFA factored into their poor readout of our state, that also won’t require massive infusions of public money to make it happen.

The direct impacts of this project cannot be understated. It will support around 600 construction jobs during the building phase and another approximately 6,500 permanent jobs once fully built. These will be good-paying jobs, too, sitting well above the average income for these communities. It will also create thousands of indirect and induced jobs – meaning different industries that will be utilized during the build (e.g., architectural, engineering, retail/wholesale trade, warehousing, etc.). It could even cause spillover effects like other businesses moving into the area to support the logistics hub – restaurants, real estate, and other valuable employment.

The terminal’s indirect benefits are just as important as the direct benefits. At full build out, property tax revenues are expected to be around $8M and will be locally divided among the various taxing jurisdictions. Having more tax dollars (without having to raise taxes on existing taxpayers) to support our schools, fire departments, parks and other community facilities is always a win.

Beyond the economic impacts, this project will also stabilize our supply chain – both locally and beyond. When the facility is complete, it will increase the speed of which containers are moving in and out of our region. This will allow local shippers to have faster and more efficient service reaching markets across the U.S. and internationally. Similarly, this will mean that our existing partners in the community will be able to get goods to the Chicagoland area faster too. This is especially impactful given what was noted in the CGFA report regarding our real gross domestic product (real GDP, or economic growth).

They noted that after COVID-19 shutdowns, Illinois’ economic growth has been “an anemic 2.8%,” ranking us 46th in terms of economic growth. But with this hub offering greater access to retail partners, our local businesses and surrounding areas will certainly feel the benefits from this boost as well.

Beyond that, the terminal does have perks that will be felt by every Illinoisan. The hub is expected to alleviate congestion and reduce wear and tear on our state roads. This means less semis clogging our roads and less tax dollars spent fixing them. Plus, less long-haul trucks moving goods that will now be shipped via rail will also improve air pollution for the surrounding areas.

As someone that has represented and advocated for our community and state for decades, I welcome CN and Wisconsin Central’s private investment with open arms. The benefits of this terminal are far too great for us to ignore. We need to strengthen our state economy, and this project will do that and then some. Economic development requires private investment, and we should support investments like this proposed logistics terminal.

David Welter, Former state representative, the former Chair of the Board for Grundy County, and a member of the Grundy Economic Development Council