RSS Feed
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
More good news Jackson, Clarke County and Southwest Alabama heard more good news Monday as a new $118 million wood pellet plant was formally announced for Jackson. The news has been out for several weeks but it was good to hear Gov. Bob Riley, Congressman Jo Bonner, Jackson Mayor Richard Long and New Gas Concepts' CEO and President Evan Bates reaffirm it before an overflowing crowd at Jackson City Hall. Gov. Riley called wood pellet manufacturing a new technology that would transform the markets for wood in the area. The mill will use wood waste and whole logs if needed to produce 600,000 tons of wood pellets that will be shipped through the Port of Mobile to European power plants to be burned as fuel. Evan Bates who has worked to develop a market with European customers said South Alabamians do not realize what a treasure its forests are. A pine tree in Sweden, the top timber producer in northern Europe, takes about 49 years to mature for cutting. The same tree in south Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi takes about 12 years. It is no wonder that foreigners call our region the "Saudi Arabia of wood," Bates told the crowd Monday. New Gas Concepts will employ about 100 people at average salaries of about $50,000 each. That's a $5 million payroll! A lot of credit for New Gas Concepts' decision to locate in Jackson goes to Congressman Jo Bonner, RMobile. Bates explained Monday that he had never heard of Jackson, Alabama until he was in Washington, D.C. and stopped by Bonner's office seeking help for a similar wood pellet plant in Selma. Bonner was helpful, even though Selma isn't in his district, but lobbied Bates to look at Jackson and the rest is history. The economy may be a little sluggish right now but we are optimistic for our area. The new Louisiana Pacific OSB mill will open soon and site work is underway on the mega ThyssenKrupp steel mill a short ride down Highway 43.
The TK mill, the prospect for an aircraft assembly plant for Mobile and other developments there has caused Moody's Economy. .com to name Mobile as the nation's fastest growing city over the next five years (see Congressman Bonner's column elsewhere on this page). Mobile is less than 100 miles down the road and the largest metro area for the region. Our area can't help but grow too if Mobile does.
|
for larger version       Ads have a Patent Pending. Click Here for More Information |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
