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Black Belt industry It was good news for the Black Belt Friday when it was announced that the small town of Epes, on the Tombigbee River in Sumter County, had been chosen as the site for a new $150 million U.S. Steel plant that will produce a steelmaking product to be used in the company's steel mill in Fairfield. The plant will produce a carbon alloy that carries the trade name Cokonyx. It is a substitute for tradtional coke, a coal product that is essential to steel production. The process of producing Cokonyx is said to be more efficient than making coke. The plant will create 250 construction jobs and then employ 75 permanent workers. If the plant proves to be as successful as many hope, over 200 workers will eventually be employed and the total investment will increase to $450 million. Those are impressive numbers for a region that has not seen any real industrial or economic growth in years. Gov. Bob Riley announced the new plant at a Friday meeting of the Black Belt Action Commission, a group formed to look at job creation, poverty issues and more in the region. Someone asked if this was in anyway related to the ThyssenKrupp project in Calvert. The plants are totally different but we suspect there is a relation in that U.S. Steel was highly upset when the German manufacturer received such generous incentives to come to the state. Now, U.S. Steel is receiving some state incentives perhaps as a way to soothe the steelmaker.
At any rate, it means more jobs for Alabamians and jobs in an area that sorely needs them.
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