Georgetown County Officials say they still plan to move forward with a tax funded multi-million dollar dredging project even though the main beneficiary of the project will no longer operate in the county.
Thursday in a press release, ArcelorMittal announced it will close its Georgetown County Steel Mill putting 226 people out of work.
Last November, Georgetown County announced it would dredge the harbor.
A project that would cost $33 million dollars and be paid by state, federal and local (penny) sales tax money.
County officials tell News 13 even with the announcement of the steel mill closing, the harbors biggest users, they still plan to dredge.
“This is a project that we still feel like, whether the steel mill is opened or closed, we feel like one of our assets is that port,” said Brian Tucker.
Tucker is the Director of Economic Development in Georgetown County.
He says the county had no advance knowledge the ArcelorMittal Steel Mill would close when it decided to spend $33 million to dredge the harbor.
“In fact they [ArcelorMittal] were a part of the conversation with us trying to understand what they needed if they truly needed 27 feet, if they could live with 24 feet, 25 feet they were a part of the conversation with us to dredge the port,” said Tucker.
News 13 spoke with ArcelorMittal Corporate Communications Representative, Mary Beth Holdford about the closure.
She said the company has lost money at the Georgetown location since it reopened in 2011; something it knew well before it took part in dredging talks with Georgetown County Officials last fall.
However, she says ArcelorMittal only knew the closure of the Georgetown County plant was certain with Thursday’s announcement.
Tucker says moving forward the county will now look for a business that will benefit from the harbor.
The last time dredging was scheduled to occur was in 2009.
That is the same year the ArcelorMittal plant closed before.
In 2009, The dredging stopped after the announcement of the plant closure.