Governor Jim Justice has announced the creation of the West Virginia Great Barrel Company.

The company will bring 113 jobs to the Mountain State and will produce 125,000 barrels a year.

Governor Justice said Thursday at a press conference the lowest paying job will be $40,000 a year.

According to a release, the company will be located on a 23-acre site in White Sulphur Springs.

The white oak barrels will be made to serve the bourbon, whiskey and rye distilling industry at places across the United States.

According to federal law, all bourbon, whiskey and rye must be made in new white oak barrels.

According to a release, an additional 25 jobs will be created by a stave mill and log yard and it's expected to create an additional 175 jobs in the timber industry.

The total investment in the West Virginia Great Barrel Company is over $30 million, including $27.4 million at the White Sulphur Springs plant.

According to a release, an economic impact analysis done by Marshall University put the annual impact of the company at more than $50 million.

The company will be funded by private investment along with a loan of $6 million from the West Virginia Economic Development Authority and local bank financing.

Construction of the 90,000 sq. ft. facility is expected to being in early 2018.

According to a release, barrel manufacturing will begin in early 2019.

Tom Crabtree, one of the managing members for West Virginia Great Barrell Company, believes timber could be the new coal for the state.

"In some ways that's very true," said Crabtree. "It's a natural resource that we've been given, that we can manage, that we can use to create good jobs for good people."

And unlike coal, it grows back.

Gov. Justice said he's still pushing for federal subsidies for the hardwoods industry to bring manufacturing back, based on the impact that 12 million acres of timber in the state has.. enough to offset 21 coal-fired power plants.

"It's a good idea," said Justice. "We just have to pull it off."

But for now, the plan is to transform $40 dollars worth of white oak into barrels which sell for close to $200, which officials hope is the beginning of the state turning over a new leaf.

Currently, the barrel industry needs 2 million barrels a year and is growing at 7 percent annually. By 2019, there's an expected shortage of 600,000 barrels.

Crabtree said the logging industry replants about four times the amount of trees it harvests currently, so he believes there's plenty of growth opportunities out there without putting a dent into the current tree population. He adds those huge older trees aren't the ones they're after.