Terry Brunner
A healthy American economy depends on a prosperous rural America. To win the future for the nation and New Mexico, we need to strengthen our rural economies.
President Obama understands this, and since coming to office he has taken historic action to build thriving economies and improve the quality of life in rural areas. We have made investments in critical rural infrastructure, educational opportunities, and health care, and we are promoting innovative new industries like renewable energy.
These unparalleled investments are helping drive job creation in small towns across New Mexico. And they are laying the foundation for rural communities that are thriving economically with more opportunities for families and young people.
Last week, The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development-New Mexico helped break ground on a $64 million USDA Rural Development-funded broadband stimulus project for Kit Carson Electric Cooperative in Taos. The project will deliver vastly improved Internet access to 23,000 homes and businesses in 26 communities in Taos, Rio Arriba and Colfax Counties. The project will employ 300 workers (90 percent of whom are local) during construction and, after construction is complete, 40 permanent jobs will be created to monitor the new network.
This new broadband network will help bridge the gap in Internet connectivity for Northern New Mexico. Better Internet service provides the opportunity for small businesses, schools, health care clinics, farmers, and ranchers to compete and offer services on the same scale as their urban counterparts.
Through smart grid technology, the new network will also allow remote Internet monitoring of electric meters by the electric cooperative, making it easier for consumers to monitor their usage and allowing the electric coop to more effectively balance its power loads.
This year the villages of Ruidoso and Ruidoso Downs opened a new wastewater plant (funded with $9 million in USDA Rural Development stimulus funds) that will serve 7,698 people in the Ruidoso area. During the two years of construction, the project employed 150 people, purchased $936,000 in local materials and generated $1.1 million in gross receipts revenue. These are tangible, immediate benefits derived from this project, and in the long term the citizens of Ruidoso will own a modern wastewater treatment plant that will allow the community to grow and protect their water supply from contamination.
More to be done
All told, in the last three years, USDA Rural Development-New Mexico financed more than $700 million in infrastructure projects like these around New Mexico. We made investments in utilities, water systems, hospitals, renewable energy projects and rural businesses. These projects are critical to laying the groundwork for our economic recovery and making sure the essentials are in place for community and economic development.
But there is more work to be done. That is why, this month, President Obama created the White House Rural Council, designed to build on the administration’s robust economic strategy and make sure that continued federal investments in rural communities create maximum benefit for rural Americans.
The council – chaired by USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack – will focus on improving the quality of life while promoting job creation and economic growth in rural America. As part of this effort, the president recently embarked on a rural tour of the Midwest, where he announced several rural initiatives and highlighted the White House’s recently released report, “Jobs and Economic Security for Rural America,” which discusses this administration’s rural accomplishments and the rural opportunities that lie ahead.
President Obama’s goal is simple. He wants parents across rural New Mexico to be able to look their children in the eyes across dinner tables and tell them about the jobs, promise and opportunities that will await them in their hometowns when they grow up.
USDA’s ongoing infrastructure investments and the White House Rural Council’s efforts are two important steps toward supporting the enormous economic potential of rural America. Because when New Mexico rural economies are thriving and rural communities are some of the best places to live, work, and raise a family, it benefits our nation as a whole.
Terry Brunner is the USDA Rural Development New Mexico state director.