Nucor Plant Construction Brings Unprecedented Growth, Challenges

With a $3 billion steel plant under construction, Mason County has the kind of growing pains it’s never before experienced.  Workers, housing, road conditions and commercial growth have sprung up in an area formerly rich with corn, soybean and tobacco fields.  

Construction is well past the foundation stage, with massive structures beginning to rise above the initial 62-acre Nucor steel plant site. Located about halfway between Huntington and Point Pleasant, Nucor West Virginia Talent and Community Relations Manager Markee Schindler said 15 contracting partners and up to 2,000 construction workers will build Nucor in Apple Grove, situated between the Ohio River and State Route 2.

“It will be one of the most technically advanced, lowest carbon footprint facilities in the country, and the world,” Schindler said. “We’ll have the ability to produce 3 million tons of sheet steel here in Apple Grove.”

Schindler said some of those contracting companies are local and are hiring locally. She said others come from out of the area. Apple Grove retiree John Watterson, a long time union man, said he isn’t so sure about the number of local workers. 

“What I see is not too many,” Watterson said. “They’re non-union. I was a union man. I noticed there are some tanks built over here, and we have the knowledge to build tanks. Our union did everything like that, and I don’t know any of my former colleagues that are working here.”

Schindler said about 270 of the 800 full time plant workers are already on the job. Mason County development director John Musgrave said every effort is being made to hire from the area.

“They have to have something that these companies need,” Musgrave said.  “We’re looking to bring in some special training programs to train people. Just to give you one example, the main thing for any industry is safety, and plant safety is extremely important. We could be training and get them a certificate in safety. We could make sure that they have a license to operate certain equipment. We’re looking to bring in some special training programs to train people. There’s a lot we could do through our local vocational system here and through the state. So we’re working all of those angles.”

Schindler said if full time Nucor workers are not from West Virginia, then they become new, younger additions to the state’s workforce.

“We’ve had external hires that have transferred here,” Schinder said. “I’ll tell you, everybody is thrilled to be in West Virginia. It’s been really cool, as a native West Virginian, to see just the families that are relocating here, or maybe even coming back home that grew up here and moving back to West Virginia to be closer to family.”

Schindler said Nucor has become very involved in the community and beyond. 

“Everything from elementary schools to colleges and career centers,” Schindler said. “For 2024 our team supported upwards to 400 hours of outreach, whether that be through community sponsorship, service events and volunteering in K through grade 12. That ranges with anything from STEM workshops at elementary schools or middle schools to professional development recruitment events. Volunteering, such as the food pantry that’s here in Apple Grove and participating at the 4H and FFA county fairs for Mason, Putnam and Cabell County. We absolutely remain very involved, and that’s not just in Mason County. It’s really for the entire region.”

Musgrave said housing looms as one of Mason County’s most desperate needs. He says multiple property sections totalling hundreds of acres are now being laid out for lots.  

“We’re going after subdivisions,” Musgrave said. “We’re increasing our utilities so we can supply the water, the sewer, the electric and the needs of major subdivisions.”

Local residents like Glenwood’s Cleo Smith hope Nucor sparks local commercial development.

“We need more stuff in this area,” Smith said. “They could bring some restaurants in or something, and different things that are needed down here.  I hope they bring a Walmart here. We now have to drive so far.”

Just below Point Pleasant, the sleepy community of Henderson is poised to be a hub of commercial commerce. Musgave said the plan is to buy Henderson out, backfill the floodplain areas, and build anew.

“Right now, we own about 40 percent of the properties,’he said. “I think by the middle of November, we’ll probably be up to 60, 65 percent of the properties that we’ll own.”

Poor Boys Tire Shop owner Mike Justus said he’s about the last business left in Henderson, and is now considering the challenge of relocating. 

“They have bought like, 56 places,” Justus said. They’ve torn some down. They have put in new infrastructure, and then they’re going to build it up eight to 10 feet, put housing in, bring in some restaurants, some motels, and whatever else they can get to come.”

Apple Grove resident Dion Stover is among those skeptical about Nucor spurring Mason Co commercial growth.  

“That’s what everybody was saying down here,” Stover said. “There’s going to be a McDonald and Burger King and a mall or whatever. I said, ‘People, look at Toyota, where they’re at. Toyota’s 100 times bigger than this plant. Look at Buffalo. Nothing happened there. I mean, be serious. They got an Exxon with a Subway and a Dollar General and a new school. Towns don’t normally grow around one company.’”

There are continuing concerns about increased traffic on State Route 2, the river road that’s already busy and in need of repair and expansion. Watterson, the retired union man, said the traffic starts early and just gets busier.

“It starts between 4:30 and 5 o’clock in the morning, and it doesn’t slow down, and it’s really busy when they’re starting their shift,” he said. 

Cleo Smith also worries about roadway safety. 

“The development seems nice,” she said. “But Route 2 has always been a dangerous road, and it makes a lot of people wary, even more so now.”

Nucor’s Schindler and Mason County’s Musgrave both said Route 2 safety is a priority.  

“Route 2 definitely needs to be rebuilt to an industrial-type highway with all the truck traffic,’ Musgrave said. “We’ve worked very closely with the State Highway Commission in Mason County and also Cabell County to make that happen.”

Schindler said Nucor owns about 1,700 acres in the Apple Grove area, which bodes for further industrial expansion.

“Once we’re fully operational, there will be companies working on site throughout the facility that really just help with operation,” Schindler said. “So think of things like scrap handling, machining or logistics. We’ll also have room on site for downstream processors, but those conversations are still ongoing.”

Musgrave said a $300,000 Mason County grant from the Economic Development Administration is all about future overall county planning.

“We’re using it to look out 10 to 15 years and look into the future,” Musgrave said. “All to say, here’s what we want to accomplish in the county. We’re very serious about planning for these opportunities and to provide the jobs and opportunity housing for the citizens of Mason County.”

The bulk of Nucor’s initial plant construction is set for 2025, with a plant startup in 2026.