Site Redevelopment

The DOE former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PORTS) in Pike County, Ohio is being transformed into a mega-technology center with billions of dollars of private investment recently announced. Since 2010, the Ohio University Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service’s PORTSfuture Program has been supporting the decommissioning mission of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (DOE EM) and the redevelopment mission of the DOE-designated community reuse organization, known as the Southern Ohio Diversification Initiative (SODI), to advance this effort.

The role of the PORTSfuture Program is to serve the public interest by acting as an independent, credentialed broker of data and other information, and convening, facilitating, and assisting collaborative partners and interested parties, including government, business, and community entities, in activities related to site reindustrialization. PORTSfuture engages in technical assistance and partnership building by helping SODI to attract private sector developers, and, along with collaborators, by employing data-driven decision processes to ensure efficacious planning and execution of site redevelopment. These efforts are responsive to the stated future use preferences of the public at large in the four-county region near the site identified during various DOE EM PPPO and Ohio University PORTSfuture Program public engagement efforts. Activities are conducted collaboratively among the PORTSfuture Program, U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office (DOE EM PPPO), SODI, site contractors, private-sector industries, labor organizations, state and national experts, and regional partners.

PORTSfuture’s technical assistance expertise provides data-driven approaches to advance site cleanup, property transfer, SODI operational expansion, industry and capital attraction, labor engagement, workforce readiness, and K-12 STEM activities, as well as expanding widespread stakeholder engagement. As a strategic partner to DOE and SODI, PORTSfuture develops and maintains key alliances. The PORTS site redevelopment is supported by local, regional, and state economic and workforce development organizations, Chambers of Commerce, local, state, and federal elected officials, labor groups, community members, and a multitude of regional stakeholders. The PORTSfuture Program is primarily funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office (DOE EM PPPO). The Program also leverages Ohio University financial support and various grant opportunities to expand our impact.