History
Arising out of an unmet need, The East Tennessee Economic Council (ETEC) was chartered in 1973 as the Roane Anderson Economic Council, (R-AEC) during a time of stress on the federal programs in Oak Ridge, TN, an original Manhattan Project site. The Atomic Energy Commission, which largely ran the community of Oak Ridge until its incorporation in 1960, was transitioning through the 1960s to what ultimately became the Department of Energy. The community itself was changing under self-rule, and looking for new ways to attract commercial and industrial businesses to the new city.
Beginning in 1972, leaders in the business community--notably Eugene Joyce, a local attorney, Tom Hill of The Oak Ridger and Don Maxwell of the Bank of Oak Ridge--established a forum for federal officials and their contractors to discuss and prioritize programs. As stated in the organization's purpose, R-AEC was organized "to promote regional development of the two-county area, to explore broad opportunities for growth, particularly in the multi-billion dollar field of energy technology… It is also concerned with informed political representation at the state and federal levels and the need for unified action toward common political goals."
Today, those same missions apply to the work of the East Tennessee Economic Council.
The organization was originally located in the old Town Hall building in Jackson Square for 17 years. Jesse Noritake was hired as executive secretary and provided support services (part-time) to ETEC. In the early years, and continuing through today, consultants were contracted in Washington, DC to advise on specific programs. A rifle-shot approach was adopted toward industry recruitment, particularly companies that had an affinity with Oak Ridge because of local DOE contracts, programs, or could take advantage of technologies developed at the federal facilities. Establishing a liaison with elected representatives, gaining their confidence, was considered the essence of economic development in a government town. Trips were made to Washington DC, and many political and government officials were brought to Oak Ridge. A relationship was also established with the state government.
Major efforts were spent on support of large government projects in Oak Ridge such as Clinch River Breeder Reactor Program (Westinghouse), Exxon reprocessing, proposed CENTAR centrifuge plant, Centrifuge project, EBT fusion project, and many others. Parallel to these efforts R-AEC worked to preserve the level of DOE assistance payments, and issues considered fundamental to attracting industry such as availability of land (transfer of DOE property), DOE patent and consulting policies, and technology transfer.
In the early 1990's, R-AEC came under the umbrella of the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce. It retained an independent financial status, but the leadership was transferred to the Chamber executive director. The intent of the move was to hire a professional staff and consolidate functions. During that time, R-AEC was asked to serve as the community reuse organization for East Tennessee by the Department of Energy Oak Ridge Operations manager. As the CRO, the organization broadened its scope to include five East Tennessee counties, and changed its name to reflect its new mode of operation. That function was spun off into a new organization, CROET, in 1996.
ETEC, as it was renamed in the early 1990s, worked diligently during this period to find new uses for the K-25 Site, and working with DOE and the contracting community helped develop the reindustrialization program. Also it continued to work to transition land that was no longer required for DOE missions so that it can become available for private use. It was also at this time that Technology 2020, a public private partnership to incubate high technology industry, was born with significant support from the Department of Energy. Other major issues in the 1990s included securing future missions for the Y-12 National Security Complex, developing a major new research facility for Oak Ridge National Laboratory (now known as the Spallation Neutron Source), and expediting the cleanup programs at each of the DOE sites.
ETEC, now once again an independent regional organization and co-located with the University of Tennessee’s Oak Ridge Outreach Center, still works in strong partnership with federal contractor, DOE and National Nuclear Security Officials, and local economic development organizations to seek new ways to make use of the federal investments in the region.
The original charter, dating back to 1973, still stands as our mission for the future.