Donovan Sees Bright Future For Kaskaskia Region

It’s been more than eight months since Brent Donovan took over the helm of the Kaskaskia Regional Port District, along the Kaskaskia River in southern Illinois. He succeeded Ed Weilbacher, who became a legend in the region after accepting the general manager position after retiring from a previous career, and stayed for 14 years (WJ, December 25, 2025).

“Ed and the board have left a tremendous foundation for future growth of the KRPD,” Donovan told The Waterways Journal. He called Weilbacher the “grant whisperer” because of his vision and success in attracting grant money to build out KRPD infrastructure. The port district has seen 13.5 percent compounded annual growth for the past several years, although Donovan expects that growth rate to slow in the next few years.

Part of that foundation comes from Illinois Senate Bill 1989, which consolidated the Southwest Regional Port District into KRPD and expanded the district into five additional St. Clair County townships, bringing its St. Clair County footprint from 11 townships to 16. “A lot of that land has more value than what we’re used to with the KRPD’s other properties,” Donovan said. “We are looking at public-private partnerships to attract private customers to those sites. There’s a lot of outside interest, but more hurdles as well.”

“Our main cargoes are scrubber stone, fly ash, grain, aggregate and steel,” he said. The scrubber stone goes to one customer, the Prairie State Energy Campus, a nearby clean coal facility. Gypsum and fly ash have seen the biggest volume increases among the cargoes that the KRPD handles.

Energy is one concern for the region, Donovan said. The coal-fired Baldwin Power Plant in Randolph County, operated by Vistra Corp, is scheduled to close by February 2028. The adjacent Baldwin Solar Facility will continue to operate and supply power to regional customers. “There’s a tremendous amount of solar going in; it takes a lot of land,” Donovan said.

Asked about data centers, Donovan said he has not heard any talk about interest in the region, although it’s well supplied with water and available rural land. He said he wouldn’t necessarily oppose a data center, but would want to learn the details.

He would like to see more efforts to develop the area’s still-plentiful coal resources for export. Although coal faces regulatory constraints domestically, its use overseas continues to grow, particularly with thermal coal, which southern Illinois has in abundance. “Some thermal coal is going to Chester by truck,” Donovan said. “It would be nice to set up a regular rail-to-barge supply chain for export overseas.”

The Corps of Engineers recently completed improvements to the single lock where the mouth of the Kaskaskia River joins the Mississippi River. The lock now allows 24-hour operation, and at river levels 2 feet higher than previously.

Rail Build-Out

State and local leaders recently celebrated the groundbreaking of the KRPD #1 Rail Loop improvement project in New Athens, Ill. Supported by $10 million through IDOT’s Rebuild Illinois Port Facilities Capital Investment Grant Program, the project will add a new rail loop at Terminal No. 1. The conveyor included in the original application was ultimately constructed privately due to budget constraints, while KRPD moved forward with the rail loop improvements. Once complete, the improvements will increase rail capacity, improve the transfer of goods between rail and river transportation and help move agricultural products and other commodities more efficiently throughout the region. The project is also expected to strengthen supply chains and support long-term economic growth across southern Illinois. Donovan himself had a 15-year career in Class I railroads before coming to the port.

Donovan thinks the KRPD’s expanded rail connectivity will open the way for growing in partnership with more industrialized regions to the north, around Cahokia and East St. Louis. He sees that area as a gateway to connect the KRPD area more directly with major rail, river and road networks. The port is working closely with Terminal Railroad. “That region (around Cahokia) has a higher population density and better connections to major highways,” he said.

He reiterates that the improvements made under Weilbacher “positioned us well for future growth. That’s what it’s all about. Now that the obstacles to that growth have been removed, we can focus on growing and attracting high-paying jobs to the region.”