Published in the Central Penn Business Journal, by Jason Scott

June 16, 2014

Four midstate projects helped Pennsylvania earn a second straight “Silver Shovel” award from Area Development magazine for its 2013 economic development efforts, Gov. Tom Corbett announced today.

Pennsylvania was one of four states to receive the award in the 8- to 15-million population tier. New Jersey, North Carolina and Ohio were the other three.

Georgia, Missouri, South Carolina, Texas and Utah were honored with gold, according to the publication.

The annual Shovel Awards are given to the states with the highest weighted scores based on job creation, amount of investment, number of new facilities and industry diversity. Each state submits its top 10 development projects.

Included on the list were a $43 million Carlisle Construction Materials project in Cumberland County; Urban Outfitters projects in Lancaster and Philadelphia counties totaling $210 million; a $39 million Bell & Evans project in Lebanon County; and a $55 million Church & Dwight Co. Inc. project in York County.

The commonwealth’s submissions span 11 counties and are projected to create at least 4,800 new jobs. The capital investments total $796 million, according to figures from the governor’s office.

The projects submitted last year for the 2012 award totaled more than 3,900 jobs and $1.04 billion.

(Jason Scott, "Pennsylvania earns second straight 'Silver Shovel' for development," Central Penn Business Journal, 6/16/15)