Posted Wednesday, October 17, 2018 9:49 pm

ASHLAND, Ky. (KT) – EastPark, a 1,000-acre industrial site in northeastern Kentucky, received a $4 million Abandoned Mine Lands Pilot Grant on Wednesday for preparation work at the site for the Braidy Industries aluminum rolling mill.



The grant was awarded by the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet’s Division of Abandoned Mine Lands to Northeast Kentucky Regional Industrial Park Authority (EastPark), as part of the 2017 Abandoned Mine Lands Pilot Program to revitalize the coalfields in Kentucky’s Appalachian region.



The project will involve installing a grid of aggregate and concrete support piers and columns on a 300-acre site that will support the weight of the planned, 2.5 million square-foot, Braidy Industries aluminum rolling mill that will produce material for the automotive and aerospace industries.



Company officials have said the plant will cost more than $1.5 billion and employ more than 600 in skilled labor jobs with a 2020 projected opening. State and local politicians have been doing whatever is necessary to make that happen.



Braidy received incentives from local and state governments, including a $15 million state investment along with $10 million in tax incentives. Boyd and Greenup counties aren’t applying property taxes for 20 years.



U.S. Congressman Hal Rogers, R-Ky., announced the grant to the industrial park on Wednesday at an event at the multiple-use business park near Ashland and Grayson.



“The northeastern region is thriving with new innovative opportunities and this grant supports Braidy Industries’ plans to provide jobs to our highly skilled, readily available workforce,” Rogers said. “It also paves the way for future economy development opportunities and helps us reimagine Kentucky’s Appalachian region as a major manufacturing hub.”



Rogers has championed $80 million in federal funding for Kentucky through the AML Pilot Program since 2016, alongside U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.



“The AML Pilot grant program supports the worthy goal of spurring new economic growth and bringing jobs to eastern Kentucky, and I am proud to work with Congressman Hal Rogers to continue bringing these resources to our state,” said McConnell, a senior member of the Appropriations Committee and a key negotiator in securing funding for this program. “I look forward to seeing the positive impact EastPark can have on the surrounding communities and the workers there, and I am hopeful that this site will help attract additional future investments to the region.”



EastPark is the creation of Boyd, Carter, Elliott, Greenup and Lawrence County governments and the Commonwealth of Kentucky and hosts businesses that employ 1,076 people.



The grant was awarded to EastPark only four days after President Donald Trump, during a campaign rally in Richmond, Ky., mentioned Braidy Industries specifically as an economic driver for eastern Kentucky.





“Kentucky is well on its way toward becoming the nation’s engineering and manufacturing center of excellence,” said Gov. Matt Bevin in a press release. “The $4 million will accelerate that progress, by helping to transform the economy, workforce, and communities in the Northeast region of our state.”



The AML Pilot Program, funded through the U.S. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, is a joint effort by the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development, the Department for Local Government, the SOAR Initiative in Eastern Kentucky, the Kentucky Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet and the Energy and Environment Cabinet, Division of Abandoned Mine Lands.