APPLE GROVE — It took a lot of work to make Friday’s groundbreaking happen at Nucor Steel West Virginia in Mason County.
Crews set up massive tents and lined up 550 shovels, stretching half a mile in an attempt to get the groundbreaking into the Guinness Book of World Records.
Dignitaries attending the event lauded the efforts of state and local officials in enticing the company to invest $2.7 billion in the small community of just over 25,000 people.
West Virginia taxpayers also had a role to play, helping to fund the company’s project through $315 million in state money and up to $1 billion in tax credits approved by the Legislature in 2022.
“The support we have received and the willingness to help have been tremendous,” Nucor Vice President and General Manager John Farris said in his opening remarks.
Gov. Jim Justice said the state had to increase its surpluses and commit to being competitive in order to entice businesses like Nucor to invest in West Virginia.
“We had to get ourselves really cooking if we were going to compete,” he said. “Now ... the world knows where West Virginia is.”
Nucor’s Chief Executive Officer Leon Topalian personally thanked state and local leaders for their work in helping the company make the largest investment in its history. Nucor, he said, is the nation’s largest steel and steel products company, operating 26 mills with two more under construction, including the Mason County facility.
Nucor uses electric arc furnaces to melt raw scrap metal into new steel, producing a fourth of the country’s raw steel in the process. The company is the largest recycler of any type of material in North America, Topalian said.
The company has spent $1 billion in the past decade to increase its corporate footprint, while maintaining the smallest carbon footprint of any sheet metal manufacturer in the world, he said.
Topalian promised a similar investment in West Virginia.
“Our investment in you and this county will be unwavering,” he said.
During his remarks, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., noted the American political system is more divisive than ever. Taking the opposite approach yields better results, he said, and nowhere is that more evident than with the Nucor deal.
“It takes a team effort, no one person can do it,” he said. “There’s no politics involved when it comes to serving West Virginia.”
Manchin said as a result of Nucor coming to West Virginia, other businesses will grow to support the manufacturer and more homes will be built in the community. The plant will become a centerpiece around which people will be able to build their entire lives, he said.
“For young people, this is your opportunity. You never have to think about leaving West Virginia,” he said. “We haven’t had these opportunities in a long time. It’s been many years for us to get back in the game.”
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., called the investment “revolutionary” and highlighted the transformative technology the company uses to manufacture its steel.
“You landed a big one here,” she said.
Capito noted that one of the first things Nucor did was donate $1 million to Mason County Schools. The company also helped the local sheriff’s department with a new cruiser.
“That shows you where their priorities are,” she said.
Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, said the Legislature has worked hard to pass bills that make West Virginia more attractive. He said he believes the investment is well worth it.
“We’re making it so our youth can stay here and have gainful employment,” he said.
Blair had a final piece of advice for the Mason County community as it enters an anticipated period of growth.
“Don’t put up roadblocks,” he said. “In this state, we’re going to operate at the speed of business, not the speed of government.”