A new committee has been formed in south Lincoln County called the Kemmerer Area Diversification Committee in hopes to look at new economic possibilities.

Mary Crosby is the director of the Kemmerer Landfill and she says its main purpose is to really look at new things opening up with the announcement of closures to power plants.

“Are they in a different process type for coal that answers some of the carbon concerns,” Crosby said. “Our concern is we don’t want to lose the tax dollars that mean so much to our community.”

She mentions this is a big part of funding for the schools, but she also acknowledges that it affects jobs in the community.

In September it was announced Kemmerer City will receive an economic development grant from the Economic Development Agency. This is used to do a diversification study and hire an impact manager. Crosby says the impact manager will help make sure the results of the study are properly done.

“To be our extra set of legs,” Crosby said. “To track down some of these leads and see if we can’t find buildable projects that’ll replace tax space.”

She says the committee consists of a commissioner, a city council member, an industry expert from the coal mine, an expert from one of the area’s gas plants, and a local business person. She says they will be working to gather information for the next year and a half.