AUGUSTA – The Loring Development Authority Wednesday reached out to legislators and policy makers in Augusta with their annual February board meeting.

The annual trek for board members is done to remind the state capital that the Loring Commerce Centre and the LDA are state projects with statewide implications.

“It’s an opportunity for us to make a connection with legislators and policy makers,” Carl Flora, president of the LDA, said by telephone after the session. “We make ourselves available.

Flora said he hoped the effort would convince the state to support LDA when the need arises. “There are bond issues in the future that will affect us,” he said.

Flora said the 20 people at the meeting were brought up to date on projects like the Loring BioEnergy LLC, a group that wants to bring natural gas to Loring and develop energy on the base; the Maine Lighthouse Corp., which wants to develop a drug rehabilitation center on Loring; and the Maine Military Authority, the base’s largest employer.

Flora reported that the LDA has completed acquisition of about 3,800 acres on the base and also a former jet fuel pipeline from Loring to Searsport.

“We have control of the pipeline and that starts the clock ticking on the BioEnergy project,” he said. “We expect a decision from them in the near future on the continuation of the project.

“We remain cautiously optimistic that the project will go forward,” he said.

Tim Corbett, deputy commissioner of Veterans Affairs, met with the LDA to let them know that the Maine Military Authority project at the LCC is going forward, and that new hires for the agency that refurbishes military vehicles and equipment are coming on line.

The LDA was told that about 90 new employees have been hired since the governor made an announcement about new contracts and 220 new jobs at the Loring facility. Corbett said new people are hired every day.

Flora told lawmakers that the LCC is now home to 1,242 jobs that were not there when the base closed in 1994. He said the jobs are new and not jobs relocated from elsewhere in the area.

He also told lawmakers that the LDA remains optimistic that a regional fire training academy will be located on the LCC and that a coming bond package will help to move forward a plan for a regional wastewater facility that could encompass Limestone, the LCC and maybe even Caribou.

That addition would allow the LCC to host a major “wet industry,” one using large amounts of water, adding to the waste stream.

The LDA meets monthly at Loring. The next meeting is scheduled for April 13 at the LCC.