John Austin motioned with his right arm toward Lake Superior during a luncheon Monday and talked about the lake as an untapped vista of economic promise.
Austin, a senior fellow with the Brookings Institution, a liberal-leaning Washington, D.C., think tank, urged the 45 local business leaders and environmentalists at the Edgewater Resort Convention Center to envision Duluth as on the brink of a great economic future, thanks largely to the lake.
Austin's appearance, sponsored by local environmental organizations and business interests, was designed to bring the two sides together to talk about the ability of the Great Lakes to spur economic development. Sponsors included the Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce, the Area Partnership for Economic Expansion, Minnesota Power and the St. Louis River Citizens Action Committee.
The jobs of the past needed to be near water because that's where industry often had to be, Austin said. But while Duluth and the rest of the country have shifted away from an economy based primarily on natural resources and manufacturing, oceans and lakes remain magnets not only for tourism but for where people choose to settle and start businesses, he said.
With increasing numbers of people able to work remotely from wherever they want to live, being a city near natural beauty will prove increasingly beneficial to attracting new businesses and residents, Austin said.
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But it's not just the lake and outdoors options that make Duluth an attractive spot for future growth, he said. The increasingly knowledge-based economy also bodes well for the city. The University of Minnesota Duluth and the area's reputation as a regional health-care hub serve as major economic engines, he said.
"Research and learning institutions are huge drivers of the economy," Austin said.
And while the Twin Ports population is not expected to rise dramatically in the short term, Austin predicted that the area may be poised for growth.
"The next big move is to support the economic transition of the region to pay for the lake clean-up areas," Austin said.
If Congress and the next president approve the $26 billion Great Lakes Restoration Plan, it could bring between $300 million and $700 million in economic growth to the Twin Ports region, Austin said, quoting economists.
This effort -- which locally would address sewage overflows into Lake Superior and cleaning up the St. Louis River -- would be financed largely by the federal government, similar to when federal agencies poured $12 billion into clean-up efforts in Florida's Everglades.
The Great Lakes plan also calls for halting the invasion of exotic species in ballast water, an approach recently approved by Minnesota state officials; paying to restore and protect wetlands and other habitat; cutting mercury air pollution to make fish safe to eat; and cleaning up contaminated hot spots in harbors and rivers.
If clean, the economic development in the short run would create more jobs, and in the long run would boost property values, lead to fewer days when beaches were off-limits because of pollution, open up waterfronts to tourism and other development.
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Adolph Ojard, executive director of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority, who sat on the lunch panel with Austin, mentioned the potential for the Great Lakes to someday support the cruise line industry.
PATRICK GARMOE can be reached at (218) 723-5229 or pgarmoe@duluthnews.com .
