St. James waits on Nucor Corp.

• By JOHN COLVIN
• Advocate River parishes bureau
• Published: May 16, 2008 - Page: 6A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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CONVENT — Let down by German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp AG in last year, St. James Parish residents and leaders seem cautiously optimistic while waiting for Nucor Corp. to make a final site choice.

On Thursday, Charlotte, N.C.-based Nucor announced it had applied for Louisiana permits in advance of a decision on where to locate a $2 billion iron-making facility. The 4,061-acre site near Convent is the only domestic site being considered, the company said. Brazil has been mentioned as a competing location.

Wilson Malbrough, chairman of the St. James council, said a lot of people are taking the same wait-and-see approach he’s adopted.

“People were so positive (about ThyssenKrupp), and then we failed. It failed,” Malbrough said. “We won’t see the same excitement until it is definite. We are still as hopeful that we will see some positive changes as we were then, though.

“We’re willing to help to get this done. We understand we have a great chance,” he said.

The sentiment was echoed at Hymel’s Seafood Restaurant, where bartender Miranda Greenlee said she would love increased business created by the mill.

For retiree Harry Chauvin, of Convent, it comes down to jobs.

“The parish is way behind, and we need to catch up,” he said. “We will have to take the increase in traffic with the progress.”

Dennis Bergeron, a retired chemical engineer now managing an auto parts store in Convent, added: “We absolutely need jobs. We have talent, skill, the river, the railroad, trucking, and people who want to go to work.”

The project’s first phase would require a $2 billion investment and create 2,000 jobs during peak construction. Once on-stream, 500 permanent Nucor jobs would be created, paying an average annual salary of $75,000 plus benefits, roughly twice the area’s median household income.

Additionally, future expansion could add more permanent jobs, not to mention companies in periphery industries.

Nucor estimates that about 2,600 permanent jobs would be created by suppliers and businesses that either move into the area or expand in order to support the first phase of Nucor’s operation.

“The employment would benefit not just St. James and the River Parishes, but the entire state as well,” said Parish President Dale Hymel Jr. “It will bring people into the state and the region. They will need housing, and they will shop and eat out.”