Elko: More than mining
Northern Nevada Business Outlook
By: John Seelmeyer
The future economy of the Elko region — an economy that’s diversified away from heavy reliance on the mining industry — is taking shape a little over four miles east of the city.
There, along the Union Pacific’s main line from the Midwest to the Pacific Coast and along Interstate 80, the Northeastern Nevada Regional Railport is nearing completion.
When it begins full operation this autumn under the supervision of Savage Services Corp. of Salt Lake City, the railport will be hive of activity as containers and bulk products headed for destinations throughout the region are moved from trains to truck.
Products from northeast Nevada and other regions across the Intermountain West will move through the 60-acre railport on their way to the rest of the world.
Warehouses and storage facilities will support the transloading operation.
Already, companies that require excellent transportation facilities — Pacific Steel & Recycling, for instance — are beginning to locate in a 500-acre industrial park next to the railport.
Four companies have purchased land in the county-owned industrial park, and two more purchased privately owned land next to the railport.
“That railport is really going to push the Elko area forward,” says Jeff Brigger, an economic development executive with NV Energy.
Mike Skaggs, executive director of the Nevada Commission on Economic Development, calls the railport “a huge development piece” for the region. The project, he notes, involved complex agreements involving the Union Pacific, Elko County (which put up $14 million in funding) and the Elko County Economic Development Authority.
“Kudos to them for pulling it off,” says Skaggs. “It was a hard one.”
As long ago as 2005, researchers from the consulting firm CH2M Hill Lockwood Greene were saying that development of a railport would give Elko unique advantages in its efforts to woo new employers and diversify its economy.
Among the industries that are likely to fit well with Elko, the researchers said, are those involved with basic materials and chemicals or manufacturing of machinery and equipment.
Elaine Barkdull Spencer, who soon will step down after five years as executive director of the Elko County Economic Development Authority, says the area’s abundant supplies of water also give it a strong selling point with manufacturers who are looking for a location in the West.
Another growing possibility for diversification is development of the abundant solar and geothermal resources of northeastern Nevada. A team of Colorado researchers gave top marks to the renewable resources in Elko County, and the development of new electric transmission lines through the area will encourage development of those resources.
The challenges that face the economic diversification effort are two-fold.
“Our biggest challenge throughout the county is developed land,” says Spencer. “There is very little that is shovel-ready.”
Gary Mansour, a real estate broker with Coldwell Banker Algerio/Q Team Realty in Elko, notes that most development of industrial and commercial property has been financed by local businesspeople.
“Maybe Elko hasn’t been discovered yet,” says Mansour.
Industrial parks are on the drawing board in Carlin, West Wendover and Elko, Spencer says. Leaders in the area increasingly think that public-private partnerships in which public lands are developed by private companies may boost the inventory of industrial sites.
Another concern is the availability of workers to staff new companies.
When Wadley-Donovan Group, a noted New Jersey analysis firm, took a deep look at the available workforce in Elko County a couple of years ago, it gave high marks to the education and productivity of workers.
And it noted that Great Basin College plays an important role in developing the skills of technical and professional workers in northeastern Nevada.
But the county’s relatively small population and the tight labor markets that resulted from the strength of the mining industry caused Wadley-Donovan researchers to raise a warning flag.
“The county’s tight labor environment is a significant challenge to the county’s economic vitality,” they wrote.
They said, too, that Elko employers sometimes have trouble recruiting from outside the region, partly because of difficulties for the so-called “trailing spouse” to find employment in a smaller city.
On the other hand, Spencer notes that recent new employers in the region have found sufficient numbers of well-qualified workers.
“They are doing quite well,” she says.