Audio clip
Beth Jones
A letter of intent from Chicago Bridge & Iron paves the way for Marion County to apply for grants to build a $1.1 million welding center, Marion County Mayor Howell Moss said.
“They are not making formal announcement at this point because it’s subject to approval of permits and various other things,” Mr. Moss said. “(But) we do have a letter of intent signed by the vice president of Chicago Bridge & Iron.”
CB&I is eyeing the shores of the Tennessee River in New Hope for a proposed $110 million fabrication plant that could bring more than 300 jobs to the region, mostly welding positions, records show. The firm bought 61 acres last June for a proposed 500,000-square foot plant with rail, river and interstate access to bring in raw materials and ship out large container vessels for nuclear facilities.
CB&I is seeking permits needed for construction along the Tennessee River, records show.
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation “has issued both the construction stormwater permit coverage and the 401 certification required for this project,” said TDEC spokeswoman Tisha Calabrese-Benton.
The state and TVA also have reviewed the potential impact of the project on the river with respect to the Endangered Species Act.
TVA spokesman Jim Allen said the federal agency’s draft environmental assessment report is being reviewed and that permits were “pending,” but said he did not know details.
Meanwhile, Marion County commissioners voted recently to apply for Community Development Block Grant and Appalachian Regional Commission funding to help pay for a facility to train people for high-tech, high-paying welding positions.
“And it should be a top priority for stimulus funding,” Mr. Moss said.
Welders are already training at the Regional Skills Center on the Chattanooga State Technical Community College campus in Kimball, but space is cramped and the curriculum needs to be upgraded, the county mayor said.
“We have now reached a point where it’s necessary to go another level and (get) more high-tech training in specific fields such as welding and metallurgical-type industries that are springing up around here,” Mr. Moss said.
The county took an option to buy about 150 acres of property in Kimball for the center and a possible future campus for Chattanooga State and the Regional Skills Center, he said.
Commissioners are studying proposals either to build the center on the 150-acre tract, or to refurbish a hardware building on land adjacent to that property, he said. The commission could make a decision at its April 27 meeting.
Beth Jones, executive director of the Southeast Tennessee Development District, said the welding center could be the “first piece” of a broad-scale, high-tech vocational training facility to serve the Sequatchie Valley as new industries such as Volkswagen and Wacker Chemical join expanding major employers in the region like Alstom Power.
“CB&I is a catalyst for a need that already existed,” Ms. Jones said.
The Sequatchie Valley has high-tech firms such as Valmont, Lodge Manufacturing and Seymour Tubing that need highly trained employees, she said.
But the Sequatchie Valley lacks the technical training schools available to the east and north of Chattanooga. She said a large vocational school in Marion County would attract people from all over Southeast Tennessee, Northwest Georgia and Northeast Alabama.
“There is a growing need across the board,” she said. “If you really want people to be trained, you have to have capacity to be able to do that.”
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Marion County
Ben Benton is a news reporter at the Chattanooga Times Free Press. He covers Southeast Tennessee and previously covered North Georgia education. Ben has worked at the Times Free Press since November 2005, first covering Bledsoe and Sequatchie counties and later adding Marion, Grundy and other counties in the northern and western edges of the region to his coverage. He was born and raised in Cleveland, Tenn., a graduate of Bradley Central High School. Benton ...
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