This has been all over the news in my area for the last few... months, and it had finally come down to two metropolitan areas: Baton Rouge, LA, and Mobile, AL. As announced on local news at 6:00 a.m. Friday, May 11, Mobile won the plant. The plant will actually be built around Mount Vernon, AL, a town which strangely has no mountain but only got the name because it had a small hill that was a bit higher than everything else. According to ThyssenKrupp, this plant is expected to employ 2,700 people and add at least 38,000 other related jobs to the area. Considering this plant alone is expected to cost US$3.7 billion, I find that estimate reasonable, if a bit conservative. With EADS also operating in Mobile County, I think things could become a bit interesting.
I was watching news coverage, and I heard one guy from the Mount Vernon/North Mobile County area say that the announcement was "like watching your mother-in-law drive off a cliff in your new Cadillac. You don't know whether to celebrate or to cry." I've been up to the Mount Vernon area, Grove Hill, Toxey, etc. They're absolutely beautiful, if dying, communities. This will add life to this region and much-needed revenue to the local economy. However, a small part of me asks at what cost? Will those small towns become something unrecognizable? Will they lose that which made them so special? And then, there's also the environmental concerns as well. Overall, I'm both happy and sad about this recent development.
9 comments:
I wasnt aware that there were Iron deposits of such quantity and quality as to support a steel mill.
Nah, the iron will be brought in. The natural iron deposits are closer to Birmingham, and I don't know if they're played out. Mobile has a good labor supply, a sea port, and lots of land for not much. Also, the state and local governments put together a huge incentive package, which was a solid business decision on their part because they'll more than recoup that in tax revenues over the next 20 years. The other finalist was Baton Rouge, LA, and I don't think they have many iron deposits there either. Low-cost slabs will come in from Brazil and will be turned into either flat carbon steel or stainless steel at the new plant. Like I said, I have mixed feelings about it. However, its effects on the local economy will be nothing but positive. It's just everything else I'm worried about.
Yeah, sounds a bit hinky to me.
The question becomes why Alabama, why not alomost anywhere if the heavy stuff has to make long trips in as well as out.
The economic viability is questionable.
Probably comes down to a mix of reasons, including but not limited to lower labor costs, a weak dollar, cheaper land with easy access to a sea port, and incentives.
I know but rising transportation cost would wipe that out pretty quick.
Actually it all sounds like an argument for moving it all to China, Alabama might be only a weigh station to doing that, like the old NAFTA jobs that went to Mexico and the China.
btw Did everyone forget the hurricane issue in coastal Alabama?
Mount Vernon is a good bit away from the water, almost in Washington County to the north of Mobile, but there are engineering solutions for that. The biggest problem would probably be tornadoes and projectiles, which they would find ways to mitigate unless they're idiots. I doubt German engineers are idiots. ThyssenKrupp already has a plant in Mexico, and they've expressed more concern about expanding the Canadian, U.S., and Mexican markets, so I doubt migrating this plant to China is in the future, especially given the size of the investment they're putting in. It'll take a long time for them to get a good ROI.
ThyssenKrupp?
[walks away shaking his head and muttering about environmental damage]
With any steel mill, that's virtually a given. The question is if they'll damage the environment a little bit or a lot, and what they'll do to mitigate any damage. I still go with the person who equated it with seeing your mother-in-law drive over a cliff in your brand-new Cadillac.
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