By Beth Gorczyca
The Herald-Dispatch
September 18, 2000

Jim Skidmore never thought he'd be a part of a rebirth.

But as he looks around the Mid-Atlantic Aerospace Complex at Benedum Airport, Skidmore knows things are changing in North Central West Virginia.

Instead of depending on a few local coal mines, gas companies and glass manufacturers to employ most workers, local leaders are aggressively courting other employers to diversify the economy.

So far, the efforts seem to be working. In the last 15 years, dozens of high-tech and aerospace companies have opened up shop between Bridgeport and Morgantown.

They have created thousands of jobs, with the potential for thousands more in the next few years.

"This is truly a renaissance," said Skidmore, executive director of the complex.

"If you combine what's happening here with the FBI Center in Clarksburg and the high technology consortium in Fairmont, you'd see the corridor is changing."

But change didn't happen overnight.

Since the 1950s, the area along Interstate 79 has been undergoing an economic transition. It started when local mines started to close in the 1950s for lack of easily accessible coal.

Mines that remained open hit hard times in the 1970s when the Clean Air Act forced power plants in the country to reduce their air pollution.

As a result, the region's high sulfur coal became less attractive to coal-burning plants because it burned dirtier that low sulfur coal from southern West Virginia.

Gradually, as the coal became harder to market, other mines in the region shut down. Now only one mine operates in Marion County.

It's ironic," said Charlie Reese, who lives near Fairmont in Marion County. "Even though our economy was based on coal, coal is basically gone from Marion County."

Mines still operate in Monongalia and Harrison counties and produced more than 17 million tons in 1999. Yet those counties are also busy diversifying. They don't want to find themselves in the 1970s and 1980s again, when mines and several major industries shut their doors.

"The whole 1980s was a period of economic decline," said Ralph Bean Jr., chairman of the Interstate 79 Strategic Planning Group.

"We had a large glass operation in Clarksburg they declined significantly during that period. But not only did we lose significant industries like Anchor-Hocking, our coal base was in decline."

High-tech hopes

To tackle that downward spiral, U.S. Rep. Alan Mollohan and Sen. Robert C. Byrd, both D-W.Va., started bringing high-tech jobs into the area.

In the mid 1980s, Byrd created Software Valley, an organization designed to get businesses, especially around Morgantown, to talk together about technology issues.

That organization signaled the beginning of the high-tech movement in the northern portion of the state.

Within a few years, Mollohan and Byrd were looking for other high-tech jobs to bring in. They only had to look to Washington.

By the early 1990s, the congressmen were able to talk the FBI and NASA into moving divisions to the north central region.

The FBI facility in Clarksburg employs 2,8000 people who monitor, among other things, the bureau's fingerprint identification program and its criminal background check system. NASA's Independent Validation and Verification Center in Fairmont employs 125 people who test the space agency's software.

In addition, the federal leaders secured funding to lengthen the runway at Bridgeport's airport.

"Their effort really got things changing," said Reese. "The FBI center has had a major impact on Clarksburg and the NASA center really got things started in Marion County."

Both federal agencies served as a springboard, attracting other high-tech companies, especially those who contract with the government, to the area.

The land around NASA is now home to the West Virginia High Tech Consortium Foundation. Its mission is to help entrepreneurs start high-tech companies and help existing companies expand. The 146-acres tech park includes the NASA facility, several small buildings and a large building where companies can rent office space, get business help and test products.

"We want our park to be one of the premier technology parks in the East Coast," said Jim Estep, president of the foundation. "We can do that. We just have to focus on it."

Growing Businesses

The consortium is growing. In 1990, there were only six companies affiliated with the organization.

Now there are well over 250. Among them: TMC Technologies, which supplies technical services to federal agencies, and Azimuth Industries, a research and development and electrical engineering firm that does special projects for the FBI, U.S. Department of Defense and the Department of Energy.

The two companies employ a total of 140. And executives of both companies said being a part of the foundation has helped them flourish.

"The foundation has drawn attention to the area," said Craig Hartzell, senior vice president of Azimuth.

"Plus, by having one main building, all of the companies are geographically located near each other. That generates business partnerships and fosters team relationships."

Hartzell said the efforts of the foundation have helped the entire region.

Most high-tech jobs pay very well and since most companies have contracts with the federal government, benefit packages are very nice.

"High-tech is part of the solution," he said. "It's not the only solution, but it helps."

Flying to the future

The full solution requires cooperation among other employers in the region, including Skidmore's Mid-Atlantic Aerospace Complex.

The complex formed in 1988 to help aerospace companies located near Benedum Airport grow and thrive.

It houses eight companies with more than 1,200 employees.

There could be even more jobs soon, but Skidmore and companies can't find enough skilled workers.

"We have 250 to 300 jobs open that we can't find people for, " Skidmore said. "we're crying for people up here."

To address the shortage, Skidmore, Fairmont State College and the West Virginia Development Office have proposed training students at area high schools for jobs at the complex.

"Walking in, at entry level, these kids can make $15 to $18 per hour," Skidmore said.

If the students stay on, companies will provide additional training through Fairmont State or the Robert C. Byrd Center Institute's Aerospace Education center in Bridgeport.

"The most important thing for us is to find people and get then trained for jobs," he said.

"There are companies here that will add jobs and hire people if there were enough warm bodies," Skidmore said.

Sharing the growth

Once students realize they can work in aerospace, make good money and not have to leave the state, Skidmore is sure local staffing problems will disappear. He will be able to court more companies and the Bridgeport area will grow even more.

And when that happens, he believes the whole state will benefit.

"We want to grow, " Skidmore said. "If we work it right and get lucky, there is no reason Parkersburg, Martinsburg, and Charleston can't grow with us. We can't do it alone. We don't want to do it alone."

Estep agrees.

He believes the rest of the state can share in his region's renaissance if communities work together, share ideas and erase old rivalries.

"There has to be collaboration," he said. "Where there is duplication, let's work together.

"There's been enough turf battles, and it's hurt the state. Everyone in the state has to come together."