NEA leaders want $3 billion steel mill to build population back
By George Jared
Talk Business & Politics
During the 1990s one of the most prosperous counties in Northeast Arkansas took a deep plunge. Eaker Air Force Base closed in Blytheville and throughout the decade 9,000 jobs, mostly light-industrial, were lost in Mississippi County.
These job losses caused the county’s population to plunge from 65,000 to 42,000. Nucor Steel opened two steel mills since those losses and when Big River Steel opened its doors in 2014 the county received a new designation – the largest steel producing county in the country.
BRS, now owned by U.S. Steel, announced earlier this week it will expand and open a new $3 billion mill, the largest industrial investment project in Arkansas history.
Construction on the new mill is slated to begin during the first quarter of the new year and will take about two years to complete, Mississippi County Economic Development Area President Clif Chitwood told Talk Business & Politics.
The new mill will be located on a swath of land adjacent to the current BRS plant and will directly and indirectly employ about 900 workers starting in 2024. The average wage for workers will be about $100,000 annually.
