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Among the signs at the meeting of West Virginia 2 and Ashton-Upland Road in Mason County, West Virginia, on March 15 was one urging Nucor Corp. to hire as many local people as possible as it begins construction of it $3.1 billion steel mill.
Temporary office buildings have been built across West Virginia 2 from the Nucor Corp. steel mill site.
Truckload after truckload of gravel was brought to and spread on one of several sites being prepared for construction of the new Nucor Corp. steel mill in Mason County, West Virginia, on Wednesday, March 15, 2023.
Temporary office buildings have been built across West Virginia 2 from the Nucor Corp. steel mill site.
An old farm building and silo sit idle as construction equipment gathers on the site of the new Nucor Corp. steel mill in Mason County, West Virginia, on March 15..
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Among the signs at the meeting of West Virginia 2 and Ashton-Upland Road in Mason County, West Virginia, on March 15 was one urging Nucor Corp. to hire as many local people as possible as it begins construction of it $3.1 billion steel mill.
Temporary office buildings have been built across West Virginia 2 from the Nucor Corp. steel mill site.
Truckload after truckload of gravel was brought to and spread on one of several sites being prepared for construction of the new Nucor Corp. steel mill in Mason County, West Virginia, on Wednesday, March 15, 2023.
Temporary office buildings have been built across West Virginia 2 from the Nucor Corp. steel mill site.
An old farm building and silo sit idle as construction equipment gathers on the site of the new Nucor Corp. steel mill in Mason County, West Virginia, on March 15..
APPLE GROVE, W.Va. — Nucor Corp.’s new steel mill at the Mason County community of Apple Grove will be built beside the Ohio River, but according to two union representatives it won’t be done by very many West Virginia workers.
Last week, David Bland, director of C.O.R.E (Community Organizing for Real Economics) for the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) District Council 53, placed a sign across the road from the planned site that says, “TELL NUCOR BUILD HERE HIRE HERE.”
Bland says the union is trying to bring awareness to state residents about its dealings with Nucor.
Bland said he flew to Texas on Feb. 6 to meet with Nucor regarding the planned construction project.
“I went there to lobby to the company to hire subcontractors that employ local workers,” he said. “I met with Jon Hayes, vice president and regional manager of construction for Nucor. I gave him my card, and he left the table and left my card laying there. I believe he had no intentions of even caring about local workers. He didn’t care about what I had to say.”
Jamie Sowders, with the IUPAT Local 118 District Council 91 in Louisville, Kentucky, says he had a similar experience his union approached Nucor about its steel plate mill in Brandenburg, which rolled its first steel plate on Dec. 30, 2022.
“We made several trips to talk to Nucor construction officials, and they had a safety guy talk to us for a few minutes and then we never heard from them again,” Sowders said. “We couldn’t even get a return phone call. They didn’t hire any of our local union workers. Not one.”
Sowders said he made several trips to the parking area of the construction site in Bradenburg and saw mostly license plates from out of the area.
“I saw maybe a dozen or so plates from Kentucky and Indiana, but I saw hundreds from Texas, New Mexico and others way down south,” he said. “I just wanted them to give our Kentucky contractors a chance to bid, but we couldn’t even do that.”
Sowders said he knows some local pipe and other highly skilled union trade workers were used in the Bradenburg project, but most of the general labor and less-skilled jobs went to out-of-area workers.
“They could have put a lot of Kentucky residents to work during the construction phase, just like they could put a lot of West Virginia residents to work on this new mill, but they didn’t in Kentucky and I doubt they will in West Virginia,” he said.
Bland said with the announcement of Ashton Lodge, a 1,500-bed, full-service lodge in Ashton, West Virginia, just down the road from the site in Apple Grove, it’s apparent what Nucor is going to do.
“That’s why they are building main camps on site,” he said. “This is frustrating to say the least. So many good people in this area need work, and this is an opportunity for West Virginia and Mason County to help its young people not only stay in the area but possibly bring more young people back for work.”
Bland said the union is fighting for local jobs.
“A project of this scale has the capability to put thousands of West Virginians to work,” he said. “The IUPAT DC 53 could employ hundreds of workers alone, including journeymen and -women, minorities, apprentice, trade school graduates, Job Corps students, veterans and more.”
Bland said Nucor will receive hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks and direct financial incentives and added it would be a betrayal of the infrastructure and other aid Nucor is getting from the state treasury.
“I hope local residents stand up and fight for what’s right,” he said. “The IUPAT District Council 53 will be right here leading the fight and frankly this fight is just starting.”
Nucor officials did not respond to email requests for comment. There is site work underway at Apple Grove now, and much of the work is being done by local workers and companies, including those involved in earthmoving and delivering gravel.
In September last year Nucor executives said at the annual West Virginia Chamber of Commerce Business Summit at The Greenbrier they would hire as many West Virginia contractors as possible during the construction phase.
John Farris, Nucor West Virginia vice president and general manager, said the company had submitted about 10% to 15% of the construction contracts needed to build the new facility.
“We have selected two contractors so far — one civil contractor and one concrete contractor,” he said in September. “One from West Virginia and one not from West Virginia, but our plan is to hire as many West Virginia-based construction contractors as possible.”
Farris did not disclose the name of the two contractors. He said that information would be available after a groundbreaking on the site. The company initially said the groundbreaking would take place at the end of 2022 or the beginning of 2023, but it hasn’t happened.
“Building a $3.1 billion greenfield mill takes time and includes a high amount of variability throughout the process, both in spending and the pace,” Nucor’s Talent and Community Relations Supervisor Markee Schindler said in email responses to questions about when a groundbreaking might take place. “This has been the case with every one of the new facilities we have developed over the last decade — from Convent, Louisiana, to Sedalia, Missouri, to Frostproof, Florida, and most recently in Brandenburg, Kentucky — where our new $1.7 billion mill rolled its first steel plate last December 30, nearly four years after it was first announced. Just as our Nucor Brandenburg team delivered one of the safest mill start-ups in Nucor’s history and completed it on time and on budget — we intend to do the same in West Virginia. We are currently focused on securing all the necessary permits so we can begin construction in earnest.”
Last month, Nucor announced the cost of new steel mill at Apple Grove is increasing.
Nucor now expects a net cash outlay of approximately $3.1 billion for the West Virginia sheet mill, up from $2.7 billion when the project was first announced in September 2021, the company announced.
The revised $3.1 billion estimate is net of $275 million in cash proceeds received from West Virginia for costs related to the Apple Grove site location, the company said.
Nucor cited factors contributing to the increased capital cost that include general inflation, the acquisition of additional property and equipment and expanded port and rail infrastructure requirements.
“Our expected/planned capital expenditures in 2023 and 2024 will be at least $2.25 billion,” Schindler said.
The company said the new mill will have an annual capacity of three million tons per year. It will employ as many as 2,000 construction workers during the building phase and approximately 800 full-time teammates when it is fully operational.
It will be equipped to produce 84-inch sheet products, and among other features, will include a 76-inch tandem cold mill and two galvanizing lines capable of producing advanced high-end automotive and construction grades. It’s expected to be operational by 2024.
A West Virginia University economics professor forecast $25 billion in economic impact from the mill, including potential for as many as 5,000 new downstream jobs.
Fred Pace is the business reporter for The Herald-Dispatch. Follow him at Facebook.com/FredPaceHD and via Twitter @FredPaceHD.
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