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Economic Activity Report August 2008
Although the troubled national economy has become the focus of both political parties, here in Berlin we seem to be holding our own. In July the national unemployment rate went up to just over 6% while in New Hampshire it went down from 4% to 3.7%. Berlin came in at 5% from 5.6% in June while the County is at 4.7% with 830 people looking for jobs, this is the lowest number so far this year. I continue to monitor the economic health of our local industries and most report average or better than average performance.
As is often the case, I get to sit down with people who come to Berlin looking for investment or business opportunities. I'm always fascinated by their assessment of our City, its people and the opportunities they see. These folks come from all walks of life and quite often are doing business in other parts of the country. These are the people who appreciate our quality of life, our scenery and the warmth of our residents. The last couple who came to my office this week told me the story of how they had purchased a house in Berlin, of their great views of the Mahoosucs and how the neighbors mowed their lawn and weeded their flowers while they were away. This neighborly act by their neighbors not only won their hearts but, put away any doubts they might have had about investing in Berlin. On the
opposite side of our conversation, was their puzzlement that we the natives, don't seem to be aware of the beauty of our surroundings or the opportunities before us. This is a story that we've heard before by people from away, people like Katie Paine. I bring this to your attention in this report because I look at these folks as our customers and, they're telling us something about our area and community that we should be paying attention to. Those of us with an interest in economic development need to be aware of what our customers see in us and what they need from us to make all of us successful. Although these latest clients were not industrialists but commercial investors, I was struck by the fact that they didn't ask for free space or any other handout, they just wanted to know what we see as our future and what made sense in light of our assets and location. These are the very same questions that BIDPA should be asking before investing time and money in any project. We
need to know how our efforts will complement and fit in the big picture of a new economic base for the North Country.
The Clean Power Development biomass power project continues to move forward. The company hired consultants to study the availability of fuel/chips in the area and discovered that fuel was available in very limited quantities. This fact had the company downsize the project from 35MW to 22MW. At that size, it's believed that there will be enough biomass for both, the Clean Power project and the biomass steam project at the Fraser Paper mill in Cascade. The University of New Hampshire also conducted a biomass fuel supply inventory of the State and their conclusion was that there's only enough fuel to produce around 100MW statewide. The study also concluded that there's more availability in the southern part of the State than in the north. Although most of us believe that there's an almost endless
supply of wood here, the reality is that, biomass grade wood which is the lowest grade, is made up of tree tops, branches and leaves which can be best defined as a by-product of the wood industry. Cutting healthy and mature trees for biomass does not make sense economically, since the value of that higher grade wood far surpasses what biomass plants can pay as fuel while remaining profitable.
Norman Charest
Economic Development Director
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