Partly cloudy skies. Low 58F. Winds light and variable..
Partly cloudy skies. Low 58F. Winds light and variable.
Sometimes from big dreams and small gestures, great things can happen.
Case in point: West Virginia Del. Glenn Jeffries’ dreams of a better manufacturing economy and a letter he sent to nine investors inviting them to give the Mountain State a look.
One of those investors, Warren Buffett, did just that, and on Tuesday Jeffries’ vision took major steps toward reality in Jackson County.
Berkshire Hathaway subsidiaries BHE Resources and Precision Castparts announced plans to locate in a development at the former Century Aluminum site. The initial projects represent a $500 million investment.
The development will eventually be more than 2,000 acres and include other companies, but to start out it will lead to at least 200 new jobs with the potential for hundreds more.
Gov. Jim Justice, state and company officials made the official announcement on Tuesday.
“Years ago, we were seeing so many people leaving our state,” Gov. Justice said. “But we now have good jobs here, and this is a prime example.”
Alicia Knapp, president and chief executive of BHE Renewables, pledged that the company will bring not only high-quality jobs to the region but a good corporate partner.
“When we first visited the Ravenswood site the opportunities were very clear,” she said. “It’s an excellent place for manufacturing and has land that can be developed for renewable energy. But beyond the logistics, once we learned the history of the property and what the development would mean to the people of Jackson County, we knew it was perfect.”
She announced a $500,000 donation to United Way Alliance of the Mid-Ohio Valley, “to benefit the people of Jackson County.”
Positively impacting the people of West Virginia is the goal of State Economic Development Secretary Mitch Carmichael. The former state senator from Jackson County said it’s about changing lives for the better.
“We are transitioning to a worldwide economy,” he said. “I know that these jobs will change lives and things will only get better.”
That isn’t lost on Bo Hartley, who serves on the West Virginia Economic Development Authority, and formerly worked at one of the aluminum plants that had been located at the site.
“We forget, sometimes, that individual people are affected on a very personal level,” he said. “I worked as a construction worker when they were expanding the plant, and Hartley Oil worked closely with the plants there. My first wife, who has since passed away, moved to Ravenswood when her father came to work at the plant. I’ve seen how important manufacturing is to this county. This is a big deal.”
As for Jeffries, a Democrat from Putnam County, he’s just glad he followed through with the thought that crossed his mind when he was driving back from a meeting at West Virginia University.
“I started thinking about a letter just inviting investors to consider this great state,” he said. “One of those was Warren Buffett. I’ll be honest, I didn’t think I had much of a chance of the letter being read, but I thought, ‘If we don’t try, we’ll never achieve anything.’”
Two weeks after sending that letter, when Buffett’s people reached out to Jeffries, he was stunned.
“I remember it was at 1:50 p.m. on a Thursday and when they told me they were interested in what we had to offer, I just fell to my knees,” he said.
That combination of vision and effort has led to success elsewhere in the region along the Ohio River.
Tuesday’s announcement about the Jackson County site adds to a region that is already feeling the effects of Nucor’s planned steel mill in Mason County, creating a pocket of economic development that is promising hundreds if not thousands of jobs for people in counties along the Ohio River.
Much like you see in other parts of the state, such as the North Central region, where developments in Monongalia, Marion and Harrison are fueling growth and prosperity in neighboring counties, as well as in the Eastern Panhandle, with success blossoming in a number of communities, the strategic development in Southwestern counties along the Ohio River could create a projection of prosperity in communities on both sides of the river.
And with more development pending on the Ohio side as part of Gov. Mike DeWine’s efforts to boost the state’s counties within Appalachia, as well as additional funding from the Appalachian Regional Commission, we believe there will be more growth in the entire region.
Tuesday’s announcement should be viewed as good news not just for Jackson County or West Virginia. It is good news for all communities on both sides of the Ohio River in the region.
Good things are happening — let us all drop to our knees in thanks.
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