OKLAHOMA CITY – Industrial parks in Duncan and Altus and several infrastructure projects in Ardmore will receive more than $57 million in state and federal funds as part of Oklahoma’s $1.87 billion in American Recovery Plan Act funds.
The federal funds, authorized by President Joe Biden, are part of a multibillion-dollar package designed to help the country recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. State lawmakers have worked since the spring to gather proposals and allocate the state’s share of the money.
Last week, during the Oklahoma Legislature’s special session, lawmakers spent about $1.5 billion of the ARPA funds, including $52.5 million for economic and rural development. During the regular session, which adjourned in May, the Legislature earmarked $250 million for economic development from the state’s Progressing Rural Economic Prosperity Fund.
Both pools of money are being used to fund economic development and infrastructure projects across Oklahoma.
Lawmakers appropriated $22.3 million for taxi and runway projects at the Ardmore Airport; $17.1 million for the airport’s water needs; and an additional $25 million for the Ardmore Intermodal Rail Project. Funds for the intermodal project and the airport’s taxiways and runways came from the state PREP fund, while the airport’s water project will be paid for by federal ARPA money.
In Altus, the Altus Industrial Air Park will receive $4 million in ARPA funds and an additional $4 million from the PREP fund.
Duncan’s Eastland, Northland and South Industrial parks will get $1.4 million in federal ARPA funds and $1 million in state PREP money.
Statewide, lawmakers allocated $29,9 million for industrial parks and economic development and an additional $14 million for an airport hangar program. Another $4 million in funding was set aside for flight subsidization at state airports and $1 million for international trade.
Those projects, records show, will be funded by state PREP funds.
In a media statement, the Oklahoma Senate’s Appropriations vice chair, Chuck Hall, R-Perry, said the Legislature funded the projects in an effort to make rural communities more competitive for attracting well-paying jobs. Hall said money would be used for industrial parks and aeronautics facilities, such as air parks, and modernize and expand infrastructure, including water systems and broadband.
“The PREP projects will be transformational for rural communities and a boon for economic development,” Hall said. “By building out the infrastructure, or making improvements to existing structures, we will attract more investments, which means jobs and prosperity for Oklahomans.”
House Speaker Pro Tempore Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, said the state-funded projects address critical needs.
“We always say Oklahoma is open for business, and these PREP funds will ensure that is the case both now and in the future,” he said.