The mining industry’s economic impact on LaSalle County is in the hundreds of millions of dollars. That’s according to a new studyfrom Northern Illinois University.
The LaSalle County Mining Coalition and the Illinois Association of Aggregate Producers commissioned the study from NIU’s Center for Governmental Studies.
Researcher Brian Harger found the mining industry paid more than $100 million to employees in 2013. That was the last full year of data when the study began.
It also calculated household spending from those employees and the money companies spend on goods and services.
“One of the side projects we did was looking at where mining employees live in that area. We found about 83 percent of them actually live in LaSalle County. The balance of the employees live fairly close by.”
The study did not include statistics relating to the environmental effects of the mining industry.
Harger said that information was not included in the scope of the study commissioned by the coalition.
