Tap Into Erie

Tap Into Erie, a new initiative by the Erie Regional Chamber & Growth Partnership, is actively seeking new businesses to bring to Erie County by tapping into our richest resource. The initiative will promote Erie’s abundant freshwater supply and offer special incentives for businesses to expand to Erie County.

During the current economic crisis of rising oil prices, escalating energy costs and looming water shortages, companies across the United States are fervently searching for new areas to expand their operations. As a result, Erie is strategically positioning itself as a smart and secure environment for businesses to grow.

Prior to the inception of Tap Into Erie, the Erie Chamber conducted a study to evaluate the Region’s competitiveness. The study determined which industries are the most water intensive and would benefit from the Region’s value proposition. With an excess of 36 million gallons of water per day, a high wastewater capacity, low water cost and a turnkey land solution, the Erie region is strategically positioned to target businesses struggling with existing water supplies and costs.

Water is an important initial attraction factor, but additional site factors such as logistics and costs of labor, land/lease and utilities as well as project-specific incentives, are true differentiators. Tap Into Erie will market aggressively to site location consultants to sell Erie’s value proposition so they consider Erie in site recommendations.

According to the study, Erie’s success in attracting companies in water-intensive industries will depend on its ability to aggressively reach out to targeted companies and marshal political, regulatory and private sector shareholders to work together to meet specific companies’ requirements on a factor-by-factor, incentive-by-incentive level.

As fresh, abundant water becomes increasingly scarce throughout the United States, more industries are realizing the need to expand their operations near large bodies of freshwater. Industries such as steel mills, data centers and breweries are particularly in need of large amounts of fresh water and are major targets of this campaign.

Today, the big drivers for data center site selection are water, land and electricity. Data centers are a water intensive industry due to a shift in the market to servers that use water to cool fiber optic lines. This method is believed to offer energy savings of 20 to 40% over current practices. This technology was introduced in 1995 but was not readily adopted because of low energy prices. As energy prices continue to increase, water-cooling will begin to experience substantial growth.

To attract prospective new businesses to the area, Erie Water Works is offering a special incentive package to new investments in Erie County. Benefits include a five-year - 40% discount on all water expenses, as well as custom building for all lease purchase agreements.

According to Jake Rouch, vice president of economic development at the Erie Regional Chamber & Growth Partnership, “This is an outstanding opportunity for Erie to grow by attracting new employers to the region – employers that will complement our existing base and take advantage of our region’s assets.”

To kickoff the national Tap Into Erie initiative, Rouch will be in Atlanta on October 18-22 to speak with local business leaders and discuss how Erie has the resources they need for growth. For more information on this initiative visit www.tapintoerie.com.