Arkansas is deciding
whether to provide $125
million in state financing to Big River Steel LLC for a $1.1 billion steel
plant in Osceola that would create 525 permanent jobs. Facing down concerns that the steel market is
not strong enough to absorb the potential increase in supply and threats from
Nucor to shift production away from its Arkansas facility, state officials express
support for the plant.
The state contribution
would take the form of state general obligation bonds to finance a loan and to
pay some construction costs. According
to The Bond Buyer (April 2, 2013), “The bonds would be the first authorized
under a state constitutional amendment that allows the state to issue tax-free
debt for large economic development projects.”
Meanwhile, ThyssenKrupp is
exiting Alabama, where its $5 billion steel plant is now for sale. That plant opened in 2010 and was given $1
billion in incentives. In October, a
spokesman for the company explained that it would not need to repay those
incentives because it had met its obligations.
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