Delta Holds Promise (Jeff Hankins Commentary)

As a relatively new leader of the Delta Regional Authority, Rex Nelson has found a new passion.

The former journalist, whose work history includes being the editor of Arkansas Business, ably served Gov. Mike Huckabee as communications director from the day he took office. Last year he made a surprising move to the DRA, which is based in Clarksdale, Miss., but Nelson has an office in Arkansas from which he works.

He tells me that he’s spending a lot of time on the road as a leading advocate for the Delta region, and he has an upbeat message about an area that needs every positive development anyone can muster.

“I think things are brighter now for east Arkansas than at any time in recent decades,” he said.

Here are the biggest developments specifically for the Arkansas Delta:

The potential for an automotive corridor in Crittenden County. Hino’s current construction and the possibility of more expansion with an assembly operation could mean a major infusion of jobs and supporting industries.

The growth of biofuel and biomass plants in southeast Arkansas. Nelson says the region is uniquely qualified as a home for such industries.

Rick Holley, the CEO of Plum Creek, also mentioned this prospect in a speech last week at the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce luncheon. His company is the state’s largest landowner, with 910,000 acres mostly in south Arkansas.

The Fayetteville Shale natural gas leasing activity, which stretches from Northwest Arkansas to the Mississippi River. Lease income plus potential drilling and related jobs would provide an unexpected boost to the Delta economy.

“These are all developments no one could have foreseen as recently as five years ago,” Nelson said.

So if we look up and down the Arkansas side of the Delta, here’s what we have:

Automotive and steel industries helping the northern area,

Natural gas exploration activity, a new city government in Helena and continued growth of the casino industry just across the river in the east-central region, and

New biotechnology opportunities in the southern area.

We won’t ever totally overcome the poverty and lack of education in the Delta, nor will we change the shaky agriculture-based fundamental economy. But any improvement in the Delta’s ability to provide more and better jobs and raise per capita income would help lift the state as a whole.

(Jeff Hankins is president and publisher of Arkansas Business in Little Rock. He can be reached via e-mail at [email protected].)