Coal Mining To Return To Ohio County

A coal company plans to make a $200 million investment to reactive an Ohio County mine that as been idle for nearly 30 years. Alliance Resource Partners has started the formal paperwork and permitting process to reopen the former Valley Camp mine, which is now called Tunnel Ridge LLC. The longwall mine could produce up to 6 million tons of coal each year. The company is projecting about 300 new jobs with salaries averaging in the $50,000 to $55,000 range with benefits. Tunnel Ridge is expected to be a $200 million investment venture over five years. When producing in 2007, the mine will be the first coal operation in Ohio County in 30 years.

APCO's Transmission Project Nearing Completion

Appalachian Power is nearing completion of a major electric transmission interconnection project in southern West Virginia. Workers have finished putting up the 333 towers for the utility's 90-mile power transmission line running between West Virginia and Virginia. The 765-kilovolt line starts in Oceana in Wyoming County and travels south through McDowell County to Jackson’s Ferry in Wythe County, Va. The $289 million line spans 33 miles in West Virginia.

The first phase of the new 765-kilovolt line was built in Culloden to Oceana in 1981. Appalachian Power proposed building the rest of it in 1990 as a way to address the growing customer demand in its West Virginia and Virginia service area. Peak customer demands have more than doubled since the last major transmission line to serve the area was put into service in 1973, according to the company. By the time the new line is energized, company officials predict peak demand will be nearly triple the 1973 load. The company’s transmission lines have evolved from 88-kilovolt lines built in the 1930s and 1940s, through the 345-kilovolt lines and then one 765-kilovolt line that was completed in a half-circle through Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia in 1973. The Wyoming-Jackson’s Ferry station line completes the 765-kilovolt circle.

Jet Production To Begin In Eastern Panhandle

A 14-year effort to land a jet production facility is the state’s Eastern Panhandle is about ready to take off. Texas-based Sino Swearingen has received federal approval to begin commercial production of its new SJ30-2 light business jet, which is expected to create more than 100 jobs at the Martinsburg plant, announced U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller. The FAA certification will allow the San Antonio-based company to begin delivering the seven-person airplane to customers. Rockefeller, who has led the effort for the plant, said the company already has 261 aircraft orders. Demand for the plane is high because it is faster and has a longer range than other light jets. Rockefeller worked for 14 years to get Sino Swearingen up and running in West Virginia, where the plane's fuselage and main wings are manufactured. The remaining components are produced in San Antonio, where the plane is assembled. Rockefeller said the work force will grow to 300 to 400 in the next three to four years.

Orrick Expands Services Business In Wheeling Center

The Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliffe law firm, which rehabilitated the former Wheeling Stamping building in Wheeling for use as its new Global Operations Center, is growing again. The firm announced it is creating an partnership with corporate information solutions provider Williams Lea. Williams Lea is a British company that specializes in corporate information management needs. Offerings include document management, creative and marketing support services, as well as print and logistics management. In this new partnership, which becomes effective November 14, Williams Lea will coordinate all of Orrick's word processing needs, transcription production services and document services work. That work will continue to be conducted out of Orrick's offices – primarily at its centralized operations facility in Wheeling, but also in Orrick's practice offices. Orrick will continue to provide other support services – technology, finance, human resources, Web engineering, benefits, payroll and marketing – from the Global Operations Center in Wheeling. The firm also will continue to develop a U.S.-based out-sourcing business for other law firms. Both firms anticipate that expansion will create an even greater demand for the kinds of jobs that have been created at the Wheeling facility and the need for additional office space.

Amphitheater Planned for Flatwoods

Skidmore Development Inc. is seeking the state's help in building an amphitheater off Interstate 79 in Braxton County that will showcase regional performers. The amphitheater is estimated to cost nearly $1 million and is expected to be open for its first show in May 2006. The planned amphitheater will offer 1,438 plastic stadium seats along with a grass seating area for a total capacity of about 2,000 people.

Amazon.com To Expand Local Workforce By 100

Amazon.com will hire 100 full-time, seasonal employees for its Huntington, W.Va. customer service center. The new workers will work until mid-January. The seasonal positions could turn year-round if the customer is interested in staying with the company and his or her job performance is acceptable, company officials indicate. Nearly 300 employees at the downtown facility handle Amazon.com customer questions and concerns about their accounts, orders and the Web site. Employees also answer questions about several of Amazon’s retail partners like Target.com, The Bombay Company and Bebe Stores, Inc. Amazon.com opened the center in 2000.

Moundsville Wallboard Plant To Create 200 Jobs

BPB America Inc. on October 18 announced its decision to build a high-speed wallboard plant in West Virginia's Northern Panhandle using synthetic gypsum, a byproduct of pollution controls at an adjacent power plant. The new plant is expected to employ 100 workers and indirectly create another 100 jobs at the site next to American Electric Power Co.'s Mitchell Plant near Moundsville.

Gypsum is a byproduct of the flue gas desulfurization systems, known as scrubbers, used to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions from power plants. Scrubbers are being installed on the Mitchell plant at a cost of about $800 million.

The expected cost of the project was not disclosed Tuesday, but in a March announcement of the cooperative agreement between AEP and BPB, the plant's cost was estimated at $100 million. The plant should be operational by 2007.The Moundsville plant will become the third BPB plant in North America using the synthetic gypsum technology.

Distribution Center To Grow By 50 Percent

The Coldwater Creek distribution and call center in the Parkersburg Business Park will be growing by 50 percent. The massive 600,000-sqaure-foot operation in Wood County will add 353,000 square feet to the existing facility.

Coldwater Creek is a retailer dealing in upscale women's fashions and household goods, sold through its catalog, Web site and stores. The $20 million expansion at the center is needed to facilitate the company's goal of increasing its retail locations across the country, company representative David Gunter said.

Construction is scheduled to begin February 2006, and the new facility could be in operation by 2007, officials said.