Posted July 7, 2020 in News
Leaders in Rankin, Warren and Washington Counties have put in the hard work to get industrial sites in their areas qualified through Entergy’s Economic Development Qualified Site Program.
“The program helps businesses go from concept to operations quickly and efficiently, and with accurate cost estimates,” said Ed Gardner, Entergy Mississippi director of business and economic development. “It eliminates the unknown and mitigates much of the risk inherent with developing a site.”
The Qualified Site Program certifies that professional engineers and other relevant specialists have completed an in-depth analysis of the property. It also ensures that results of the studies are available for review. Projects undertaken on these sites are overseen by a team that provides answers, solves problems, streamlines processes and removes the red tape that can complicate a business’s location or expansion.
Site development is costly for communities, so leveraging local resources with those from agencies like Entergy, the Delta Regional Authority and the Mississippi Development Authority is vital.
“Entergy’s Economic Development Qualified Site Program is an excellent resource for local economic development organizations looking to increase their industrial sites’ marketability in order to attract prospective businesses,” said John Rounsaville, interim director of the Mississippi Development Authority. “MDA commends the teams in Rankin, Warren and Washington counties for taking the initiative to qualify their sites through this program, which will assist them significantly in bringing new jobs and investment to their communities.”
These newly-qualified sites join seven others in Entergy Mississippi’s service area. They are:
The economic development organizations that promote these sites were all grant winners in Entergy Mississippi’s Excellerator Competitive Communities program last year. Rankin First Economic Development Authority received a site readiness grant; the Vicksburg-Warren Partnership won a marketing grant and the Washington County Economic Alliance received an organizational excellence grant.
Entergy will now provide resources to promote the qualified sites and market them to national and international brokerage firms and site consultants.
“We’re proud to add these sites to our growing list of certified sites, and we commend our economic development partners for the significant investment they put in to meet the requirements of our program,” said Gardner.
Entergy Mississippi’s other qualified sites are in Adams, Bolivar, DeSoto, Hinds, Madison and Tunica counties.
Entergy Mississippi, Inc. provides electricity to approximately 450,000 customers in 45 counties. Entergy Corporation (NYSE: ETR) is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, including 8,000 megawatts of nuclear power. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.9 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy has annual revenues of $11 billion and approximately 13,600 employees.
Ed Gardner recently joined Entergy Mississippi as the Vice President of Economic Development after working for five years as the Northwest Florida economic development representative for PowerSouth Energy Cooperative. Ed’s experience includes positions at the Birmingham (Ala.) Business Alliance (Vice President of Economic Development and Workforce) and the St. Clair County (Ala.) Economic Development Council (Executive Director).
