Pinch ourselves

EDITORIAL

Exciting to imagine what the future may hold for our area’s economy

Earthquakes happen when massive underground plates slide by in different directions. A case could be made that something like that is happening to the Rockdale area’s economics. And there’s an earthquake coming. The economies of the past and future appear to be meeting in the present. It’s stunning to try and come to grips with them. We’re talking, of course, about the Bitmain project to convert the former Alcoa smelter to a cryptocurrency “mining” operation and the revelation that the rest of what’s now known as the Alcoa Lakes property may follow suit and become a center for all kinds of futuristic technologies. Probably the most sensible reaction right now would be for all of us to take our thumb and forefinger and give ourselves a good, vigorous pinch. If we are all actually awake and not dreaming, it’s time to make some sense of what’s happening. First, let’s be clear. Bitmain is coming. Work at the former smelter is well underway. That venture will bring between 300 to 500 jobs to our area. Obviously it could not have come at a better time. As for the optimistic predictions of solar farms and other major tenants moving in—the land’s broker said last week Bitmain would not even be the highest-profile tenant at the site—right now we should all be in a wait-and-see mode. Old-timers will remember the Rockdale Power Project, the Superconducting Supercollider and other anticipated projects which never materialized. In fact, just a few years ago, Rockdale was promised a utopian high-tech green city at the Alcoa site. It didn’t happen. But what’s happening now is doing so in literally a different world. To paraphrase a famous line: “Technology is not only more complex and wonderful than we imagine, it’s more complex and wonderful than we can imagine.” But before the new slides by the old, let’s pause and thank some who have helped ease the way. Alcoa is one for its magnificent restoration job at a former coal mine which has become so attractive to clients that they apparently are willing to come and invest here. Then there is the Rockdale Municipal Development District (MDD) for its tireless and necessarily secretive task in facilitating the Bitmain project. The MDD has rallied leaders in all facets of the community for its successful effort. Better times are coming. Take a deep breath. Time to stop pinching. And look to the future. —M.B.