BARBERTON: Gov. Ted Strickland hopes his proposed $1.57 billion economic development plan will help create thousands of jobs in areas of the struggling state economy that show strong promise for growth.

Areas such as clean-coal technology and biomedical research.

But Ohio's longtime economic bread and butter sector, manufacturing, will not be forgotten, the Democrat said Monday afternoon after a tour of coal boilermaker Babcock & Wilcox Power Plant Generation Group's new, state-of-the-art research center. The 50 or so people who work at the$14 million, 55,000-square-foot center that opened last year are finding ways to burn coal cleanly and to reduce power plant emissions, including the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.

''Manufacturing will always be a part of Ohio's economy. Manufacturing will change, I think, and is changing, but we can't give up on manufacturing,'' Strickland said.

The governor said he hopes to announce in the next few months that there will be a$1 billion investment in a new steel mill in the state.

''I think that's going to happen, as a matter of fact,'' he said, while not providing additional details. Strickland said he also is talking to other steel companies about making major investments in the state.

But Ohio's greatest job growth may come from other industries, he said.

''I think the area of greatest potential right now is energy,'' Strickland said.

The energy-related portion of Strickland's economic stimulus package is why he came to B&W, which added 360 new jobs in 2007 and is poised to hire even more people this year as demand for its power-plant related products and services grow. The package calls for investing as much as
$250 million in the energy industry, including research.

Gov. Ted Strickland at Babcock & Wilcox

All told, Babcock & Wilcox has 1,460 employees in Barberton and 3,233 in Ohio, according to the company.

Strickland, wearing safety glasses and a bright yellow hard hat, talked about his hopes for the stimulus package in a part of the research center that holds what the company calls its ''small boiler simulator'' used to test combustion and environmental control technologies.

The governor said he hopes the so-called ''Building Ohio Jobs'' package, once passed, will create as many as 80,000 new jobs over the next several years while also retaining young college graduates in the state.

Ohio has the resources to be a major player in energy, including energy production, manufacturing, fuel cells, natural resources for ethanol and bio diesel production, coal and research facilities such as the one in which he was standing, he said.

''I think Ohio is beautifully positioned to be a leader in the nation,'' he said. ''We will invest in advanced energy.''

But Ohio can't depend on trying to grow just a handful of economic sectors, he said.

''We've got to look at it all,'' Strickland said. ''We have to have the broadest portfolio of job-creating activities, and that's what we're trying to do and that's what I hope this stimulus package will help us achieve.''

Strickland said he hopes the package, which he said has bipartisan support in Columbus, will be passed within the next two weeks. The bond portion of the package will require voter approval in November.

Brandon Bethards, president of B&W Power Generation Group, said his company likes the proposal in Strickland's plan to fund more college co-op and internships at businesses.

The economic job stimulus program has a number of components that line up well with B&W's business strategy, he said.

''We are a big user, a big proponent of co-op and intern programs,'' Bethards said.

B&W has been adding employees for at least the past four years in Barberton, he said. ''That was driven by the need for new environmental controls on coal-fired power plants and the addition of new coal-fired generation facilities that were procured in the market over the last five years.''

The demand in recent years for coal-fired generation around the world, particularly in China, has led to local job creation, Bethards said.

''It translates into jobs in Barberton,'' he said. ''This is our center of excellence for research and development. It's our global center of excellence for engineering, procurement and project management. So, those are the jobs that are located here, in Barberton. We serve the worldwide market from here.''