Boom town or ghost town?
Economic development in Grants needs rail access

A train whishes past an abandoned building that sits along Santa Fe Avenue in Grants, NM. Grants, a town largely bypassed by I-40 and trains, may soon see new buildings from development companies such as Blue Dot Corporation. [Photo by Daniel Zollinger/Independent]

By Mike Marino
Cibola County Bureau

A train leaves behinds empty track in Grants, NM. Grants, a town largely bypassed by I-40 and trains, may soon see new buildings from development companies such as Blue Dot Corporation. [Photo by Daniel Zollinger/Independent]

GRANTS — The old saying goes: “What goes up must come down,” includes the economic lifeblood of a community. Many communities over the years, especially in the 1970s, have made the journey from boom to bust because of a reliance on a industrial monoculture. In the Midwest it was the automotive industry that took a downward turn, and in Cibola County the once thriving industry of uranium mining started to come to the end of the road.

“It was a bad time for all of us,” said Lawrence Sanchez of CCEDF, the Cibola Communities Economic Development Foundation. “Jobs were lost, people moved away and the housing values dropped dramatically which meant less money for the area and it’s infrastructure.”

Economic development in Grants hasn’t always been an easy task. There were problems, including trying to gain a clear focus on direction, but with little progress. That started to change three years ago when Sanchez and other dedicated members of the community took over and began formulating a plan to focus on the realities of economic growth and what they could actually accomplish in a small community.

“We have a highly diversified board and we also have great working relationships with all the governmental entities in the area. We decided long ago that we all have the same goals so it’s better to work with each other than against each other and that seems to be bearing fruit,” Sanchez said.

The CCEDF realized that they had to attract not only new business to the community but diversified ones as an economic buffer that would help if there was a slump in the market.

“We serve all of Cibola County and we do have a workforce available to handle these new jobs or can be trained for them. We work with the state of New Mexico Labor Department for job training and we work with the state on attracting companies to our area, and we work closely with the PRO Program or Potential Recruiting Opportunities,” Sanchez said.

One of the newer victories for the CCEDF is the Blue Dot Corporation/Sterling Homes that will be setting up their facility creating higher paying jobs in the process.

“Blue Dot is working closely with us and the city of Grants as we help and assist them in getting set up and develop. We need more companies like this to come here and create these jobs, have the community grow and in the process keep our economy healthy. Many companies go to larger areas such as Albuquerque or Las Cruces and it’s harder for smaller ones to attract these type of business. We do have interstate access and a wonderful airport,” he said.

The area also has a rail line that runs through town operated by BNSF but the community has been “redlined” in order to save time and money, so the trains don’t stop in Grants.

“We need rail access. Right now they just go right past us but if we could get some of the spurs cleaned up and active and get the trains in here, we could attract more companies. In fact we have lost out on at least one of them moving here because of the lack of rail service. One company needed to bring in the raw material for manufacturing but it had to come by train and because we couldn’t provide that service we lost out. There is a lot to do on many other fronts, not just with the railroads, so we have to do more to exert political pressure on both the state and federal level,” Sanchez said.

Sanchez is optimistic about the rebirth of the uranium mining industry.

“It will be good for the community as things have changed regarding safety issues and uranium is being used more and more today for nuclear power as an alternate energy source and not just for the creation of bombs” he said.