(a) The General Assembly finds and determines that there exists in the State a critical condition of unemployment and a scarcity of employment opportunities; that the economic insecurity which results from such unemployment and scarcity of employment opportunities constitutes a serious menace to the safety, morals and general welfare of the entire State; that such unemployment and scarcity of employment opportunities have caused many workers and their families, including young adults upon whom future economic prosperity is dependent, to migrate elsewhere to find employment and establish homes; that such emigration has resulted in a reduced rate of growth in the tax base of the counties and other local governmental units of the State which impairs the financial ability of such counties and other local governmental units to support education and other local governmental services; that such unemployment results in obligations to grant public assistance and to pay unemployment compensation; that the aforesaid conditions can best be remedied by the attraction, stimulation, expansion and rehabilitation and revitalization of industrial and manufacturing facilities for industry in the State; and that there is a need to stimulate a larger flow of private investment funds into industrial building programs into the State.

(b) The General Assembly further finds and determines that the development and expansion of industry within the State, and the generation of electric power and the supply of other services by public utilities, which are essential to the economic growth of the State and to the full employment and prosperity of its people, are accompanied by the increased production and discharge of gaseous, liquid, and solid pollution and wastes which threaten and endanger the health, welfare and safety of the inhabitants of the State by polluting the air, land and waters of the State; that in order to reduce, control, and prevent such environmental pollution, it is imperative that action be taken at various levels of government to require the provision of devices, equipment and facilities for the collection, reduction, treatment, and disposal of such pollution and wastes; that the assistance provided in this Chapter, especially with respect to financing, is therefore in the public interest and serves a public purpose of the State in promoting the health, welfare and safety of the inhabitants of the State not only physically by collecting, reducing, treating and preventing environmental pollution but also economically by securing and retaining private industry thereby maintaining a higher level of employment and economic activity and stability.

(c) It is therefore declared to be the policy of the State to promote the right to gainful employment opportunity, private industry, the prevention and control of the pollution of the air, land and waters of the State, and the safety, morals and health of the people of the State, and thereby promote general welfare of the people of the State, by authorizing counties to create county authorities which shall be political subdivisions and bodies corporate and politic of the State. These bodies are to be formed (i) to aid in the financing of industrial and manufacturing facilities for the purpose of alleviating unemployment or raising below average manufacturing wages by financing industrial and manufacturing facilities which provide job opportunities or pay better wages than those prevalent in the area and (ii) to aid in financing pollution control facilities for industry in connection with manufacturing and industrial facilities and for public utilities; provided, however, that it is the policy of the State to finance only those facilities where there is a direct or indirect favorable impact on employment or an improvement in the degree of prevention or control of pollution commensurate with the size and cost of the facilities. (1975, c. 800, s. 1.)