Building a Planet (Editorial)

Clif Chitwood visits a Nucor Steel port on the Mississippi River. He has led economic development in Mississippi County since 2001. (Terrance Armstard)

Clif Chitwood, the CEO of the Great River Economic Development Foundation and one of the most quotable economic developers in Arkansas, had a good take on the recent announcement that U.S. Steel is planning another new plant in Osceola, a direct reduced iron facility that will produce feedstock for U.S. Steel’s electric arc furnaces.

Chitwood told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that Mississippi County’s housing incentive program had resulted in the construction of 300 new homes in the county, “more than they’ve had in the last 30 years combined.”

“I’ve likened it to when an asteroid gets big enough, it starts to become a planetoid. It builds gravity. It sucks in more and more and finally, you build a planet. That’s exactly what’s happening here,” Chitwood said.

People come to a region for jobs. They settle down when they can find affordable housing, a decent education for their kids, and a few life-enhancing amenities.

Companies like U.S. Steel and Hybar, which began producing steel rebar at its $700 million Osceola facility in May and plans to invest $1 billion in a second plant, along with mainstays like Nucor are delivering the jobs. And local leaders like Chitwood are doing their best to deliver the rest.