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The most recent episode of IEDC’s Economic Development Sessions series featured IEDC president and CEO Nathan Ohle in conversation with U.S. Secretary of Energy and former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm. Granholm reflected on her experience facilitating economic development in her past and present roles. Granholm first discussed critical economic diversification strategies she used while serving as Governor of Michigan during the 2008 financial crisis: “We had been the auto manufacturing state for so long, but we knew we had to add new legs to our economic table to balance it.” Through federal partnerships Granholm diversified Michigan’s auto industry, including by investing in electric vehicle battery ...

In August, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into law. The act is designed to fight inflation, invest in domestic energy production and manufacturing, and reduce carbon emissions by roughly 40 percent by 2030. Specifically, the bill includes $369 billion in investments towards energy security and climate change. Below is a brief overview of the energy provisions and the potential implications the act has for consumers, employers, and manufacturers. Lowers energy costs for Americans – The incentives in the bill will alleviate the burden of high energy costs and decrease utility bills. Additionally, it includes incentives that will help consumers afford more energy efficient and cleaner technologies. The bill ...

The new CitiesSpeak podcast, hosted by National League of Cities CEO and executive director Clarence Anthony, gives listeners a close look at local leadership across the United States. His guest on the first episode was Mitch Landrieu, who served as the mayor of New Orleans from 2010 to 2018 and is now a senior advisor under the Biden Administration in charge of coordinating the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The episode focused on the implementation of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, part of the Build Back Better plan. Landrieu’s experience as mayor has assisted him in his new role. His tenure as mayor was “where the rubber meets the road” whereas federal positions often feel as if they are ...

IEDC’s 2022 Annual Conference will be held next month in Oklahoma City. A few of our local conference speakers shared some exciting economic development projects happening around the state.

Global demand for electric vehicles (EVs) continues to grow as a result of climate change concerns and ongoing technological innovation. In response, many car manufacturers now produce EV models as well as internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles with plans to focus most R&D and production expansions on the former moving forward. For more than a century, the U.S. automotive industry has contributed significantly to the country’s economy and currently employs nearly 3 million Americans. However, because EV and ICE production processes have different skill and labor requirements, the nature of automotive jobs is changing. Recent efforts by the U.S. government, auto manufacturers, and local educational institutions therefore aim ...

This month IEDC President and CEO Nathan Ohle hosted U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development Alejandra Castillo for IEDC’s first Economic Development Session. The sessions will be a series of fireside chats between Ohle and leading economic development officials, thought leaders, and experts. The conversation with Castillo centered around how EDA is focusing on long-term and equitable growth, and how unique this approach is in the agency’s history. The emphasis on long-term development is a departure from previous administrations’ focus on episodic projects and funding, and possible due to the CARES Act and ARPA which provided EDA with more than $4 billion to work with. Castillo talked about how ...

A recent Regional Economic Models, Inc. (REMI) webinar reviewed the economic and environmental impacts of military base closures through the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) system used by the U.S. Armed Forces. The discussion began with an overview of the BRAC system and the economic and environmental impact of the U.S. military. BRAC has been significant in changing the economic climate of a region, and with the Biden administration looking to hit a greenhouse gas reduction target by 2030 and the Department of Defense signaling for an all-electric vehicle fleet by 2035, the impacts could be felt nationwide. For historical context, the webinar analyzed the economic and environmental impacts of the post-Cold War closures of Bergstrom ...

With Tesla’s commercial success and new technology emerging to shape the future of electric vehicles (EV), it’s no wonder that there are numerous startups trying to be the next big thing in the automotive industry. In 2020, four out of every five EVs sold in the United States were Teslas, and the rest were mostly from other large automobile manufacturers (WSJ). A new contender that has breathed life into the EV startup scene is Rivian, which won the 2022 Motortrend Truck of the Year award. The truck is fully electric and does not sacrifice performance or functionality for the sake of efficiency, competing with top-of-the-line vehicles such as Range Rovers and Jeeps (Motortrend). At around $70,000, it is competitively priced ...