| Economic impact study of Milan arsenal released | | Posted: Friday, July 2, 2010 1:31 pm
| The relocation of 600 production jobs from the Milan Army Ammunition Plant to an Iowa company would result in a total $202 million negative impact on the Tennessee economy and more than 2,400 lost jobs, according to a report released this week from the Milan and Carroll County Chambers of Commerce.
“This report should leave no doubt in anyone’s mind that keeping these jobs in West Tennessee is the right thing to do for the whole state,” State Sen. Lowe Finney (D-Jackson) said Wednesday. “These figures underscore the need for a serious, all-encompassing study that takes into account this disturbing data.”
The Army is using an Environmental Assessment released earlier this month to justify moving 600 jobs from the Milan arsenal to an Iowa contractor.
In response, Younger Associates in Jackson released a 50-page report showing that more than 2,400 jobs related to the arsenal’s work would be lost across the state, including 1,142 in Gibson and Carroll Counties alone.
An estimated $30.1 million in consumer spending would be eliminated in Gibson, Carroll and Weakley counties, according to the report. Local governments – including schools – in those counties would lose $1.2 million annually in tax revenue decreases.
“Losing these jobs hurts more than just the people working at the arsenal. It hurts literally every Tennessean and cripples Gibson and Carroll Counties,” Finney said.
“The federal government can argue all it wants, but those are the facts.”
Finney and other state and federal lawmakers are requesting an in-depth, independent study that would take into account the economic and environmental impact out of moving the jobs from West Tennessee.
The initial proposal also included the potential of storing depleted uranium waste at the arsenal. A fact sheet from an Army spokesman says that a new proposal will not include the waste. To view a full copy of the report, visit http://www.scribd.com/doc/33756664/Milan-Arsenal-Report.
WCP 7.01.10 | | | | |
