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People in a line of 550 shovels a half-mile long set the world record for a groundbreaking at the site of the planned Nucor Steel West Virginia mill in Apple Grove, Mason County on Oct. 20, 2023.
People in a line of 550 shovels a half-mile long set the world record for a groundbreaking at the site of the planned Nucor Steel West Virginia mill in Apple Grove, Mason County on Oct. 20, 2023.
KENNY KEMP | Gazette-Mail
West Virginia officials justified awarding hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars in 2022 to a steelmaker to build a mill in Mason County by touting a key figure: 800 jobs.
Then-Gov. Jim Justice and multibillion-dollar steel giant Nucor Corp said the Charlotte, N.C.-based company’s mill was expected to create 800 high-quality manufacturing jobs to add to the firm’s 28,000 “teammates†at some 300 facilities primarily in North America.
“It’s going to change lives by bringing hundreds of great-paying jobs to Mason County, and the economic ripple effects will bring even more goodness to our state,†Justice said in a Jan. 12, 2022, news release.
The West Virginia Legislature then committed up to $315 million in a special-session state budget maneuver to lure Nucor, the nation’s largest steel producer, to West Virginia.
But the West Virginia Department of Economic Development’s January 2022 memorandum of understanding with Nucor setting up Nucor’s Mason County mill project required only that the company employ a minimum of 550 full-time equivalent employees by the end of 2026 in exchange for state support.
So, West Virginia taxpayers were on the hook for $572,727 per job required to be created instead of what would have been $393,750 per job for the 800 positions they and Nucor anticipated.
But the state’s support for Nucor wasn’t done.
In December 2024, the West Virginia Economic Development Authority approved up to an additional $75 million, through a forgivable loan, for Nucor to further support its plan for the sheet mill just south of Point Pleasant.
The $75 million loan set a new employment threshold of 650 jobs — still nearly 20% below the 800-job mark Nucor and state officials said they expected the company to hit, according to a resolution adopted by the Economic Development Authority in December the Gazette-Mail obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request.
The Economic Development Authority resolution sets a Nucor capital investment threshold of $3.5 billion and a deadline of Dec. 31, 2028 — two years later than the deadline set in the 2022 memorandum of understanding between Nucor and state officials. The 2022 accord had set a minimum of $2.7 billion for Nucor to invest in the project.
The additional $75 million in support, labeled a “performance-based incentive†in the resolution, brought the state’s support for the Nucor project to $390 million, meaning an investment of $600,000 in taxpayer dollars for each job required to be created — and $750,000 per additional job per the 100-job increase in the state’s agreement with Nucor.
Justice said at the Economic Development Authority’s meeting at which the agency board approved the loan that Nucor wanted to “expand their scope and bring in more and more and more employment.â€
Nucor Steel West Virginia says 300 ‘teammates’ hired
The $315 million that comprised the state’s financial incentive package for Nucor in 2022 was pledged in tranches from the Department of Economic Development:
$125 million upon Nucor committing $500 million toward the project
$150 million upon Nucor committing $750 million toward the project, or July 1, 2022, whichever was later
$40 million upon Nucor’s purchase of land or execution of a lease of land for at least 10 years to develop a transload facility to support Nucor’s steelmaking in Mason County
Markee Schindler, spokesperson for Nucor subsidiary Nucor Steel West Virginia LLC, noted in a Jan. 30 email the 550- and then 650-worker figures were minimums.
The Nucor West Virginia facility is nearly 40% through the construction phase and remains on track to be commissioned by the end of 2026, Schindler indicated.
Schindler said the company, which broke ground on the project in October 2023, had hired 300 full-time “teammates.â€
Schindler pointed to Nucor investments to modernize sheet mills in other states to argue the company is “there for the long-term†when it comes to a community. She cited, in part, what she said was $850 million Nucor invested in a Kentucky sheet mill it acquired in 2014 and $430 million invested in an Indiana sheet mill the company built in 1989.
Nucor overperforms any minimum job, investment, payroll and other conditions common in economic development agreements, Schindler said.
“The bottom line is that we are just getting started in West Virginia, and we are incredibly excited about this project,†Schindler said.
Spokespeople for Gov. Patrick Morrisey and the Department of Economic Development did not provide comment. Economic Development Authority officials did not respond to a request for comment.
Nucor’s net sales dwarf West Virginia’s budget
Nucor reported last week its 2024 net sales totaled $30.73 billion — more than five times the size of West Virginia’s budget.
Consolidated net earnings attributable to Nucor stockholders for the fourth quarter of 2024 were $287 million — down 63% from the $785 million they totaled in the fourth quarter of 2023, the company said.
Leon Topalian, Nucor’s chair, president and CEO, predicted that although steel demand softened in 2024, market conditions should gain momentum as the company advances into 2025.
