United States-$110 Million dollar Meat Plant.

McCreary County development officials have been working behind the scenes on a potential $110 million project to attract a beef processing plant to this region. As envisioned, the plant would process livestock and produce beef jerky, beef snack foods and pork rinds.

McCreary County Industrial Development Authority has committed $65,000 toward an in-depth business plan for the plant, which would employ 750 workers. Another $65,000 has been contributed by South Kentucky Rural Electric Cooper-ative to match $130,000 in state funds approved by the Kentucky Agricultural Development Board, chaired by Gov. Steve Beshear.

Exact location of the plant has not been determined, but the successful application to the Governor’s Office of Agriculture Policy for planning funds gives a brief summary of what the facility would be like and some hints as to where it might be built.

A Pulaski official, who re-quested anonymity, said he has been told a site in eastern Pulaski County originally considered for the National Bio-and Agro-Defense Laboratory has been looked at as a possible location for the beef processing plant. The area has infra-structure available — water, sewer, gas, electric and transporation — to support the plant. However, Don Bloomer, presi-dent of Somerset-Pulaski County Development Foundation, said he is not aware if the acreage, owned by the foundation, is under consideration for a beef processing facility.

In a letter to Roger Thomas, executive director, Kentucky Governor’s Office of Agriculture Policy Board, Allen Anderson, president and CEO of South Kentucky RECC, wrote:

"We at South Kentucky RECC feel that based on the commitment of these local resources ($65,000 from both South Kentucky RECC and McCreary County Industrial Development Authority) prior-ity consideration should be given to McCreary County and South Kentucky RECC’s service area (if) this business plan (is) proven viable and investors are obtained to construct a facility of this nature."

Anderson also pointed out that if it is not practical or feasible to locate the facility within McCreary County, the investment made by the county’s industrial development should be reimbursed. The same request is made for South Kentucky RECC’s investment if the plant were to be located outside the cooperative’s service area.

McCreary County Industrial Development Authority’s letter of commitment of $65,000 as a local match to fund the business plan was signed by Whitley City developer Rick Stephens, who chairs the authority.

Stephens confirmed to The Record that the study is under-way with several sites under consideration, but declined discussing specifics.

"Too many times the hopes of McCreary County’s people have been raised only to be dashed," Stephens said yesterday.

As for the chances of building the plant in this county, Stephens said, "We’re working on it."

The project is the direct result of a feasibility study earlier in 2008 that determined a beef processing facility is feasible, according to Rodney Dick, a longtime employee of the Pulaski County Road Depart-ment and one of 13 members of the state agricultural development board. Dick said the processing facility would have a tremendously positive impact on the agricultural economy in the surrounding area and across the state.

Called the Kentucky Beef Processing Business Plan, the study is headed by Bennie Garland with South Kentucky RECC’s Office of Community Development. A project consultant is Rod A. Bowling, Ph.D., senior technology partner, AgriFood Solutions, International, College Station, Texas.

The plan will include marketing of products, competition, buying trends, livestock purchasing locations, processing efficiency, environmental issues and employment capabilities. Dick said he is not aware of any timetable for completion of the study and Garland has been unavailable for comment.

Based on monetary participation, there are recommended locations for the processing facility.

A hint that Pulaski County and not McCreary County might be a front-runner is the first paragraph of a Summary Sheet prepared by Mike Tobin, project analyst in the Governor’s Office of Agricultural Policy. The summary states:

"South Kentucky Rural Electric Cooperative Corp (SKRECC) is requesting $130,000 in state funds to develop an in-depth business plan for a beef processing plant IN PULASKI COUNTY."

However, the only firm statement about the plant’s location in the application for planning funds is that the processing facility will be located within the Lake Cumberland Area Development District. The district includes McCreary and Pulaski counties, as well as Adair, Casey, Clinton, Cumberland, Green, Russell, Taylor and Wayne counties.

According to official reports, the beef processing plant would be designed to utilize cull-cow processing of up to 1,000 head a day, three days a week, and 1,000 head of hogs a day, two days a week. It would produce beef jerky, beef snack foods and pork rinds. The facility would be the first of its kind to kill the animal and produce the final product in the same plant.

A person familiar with a beef processing facility pointed out that Somerset is one of the few cities in the South Kentucky RECC service area that can provide infrastructure to serve a beef processing plant of this magnitude.

He said processing of beef and pork into jerky and rinds requires large ovens fired with natural gas, a source of energy in plentiful supply from Somerset Gas Service. The city’s gas supply is enhanced by sources from Texas Eastern Transmission Corporation’s natural gas pipeline on the west and a pipeline network constructed during the 1970s to transport natural gas from Eastern Kentucky wells.

Also, a beef processing plant would use large quantities of water and would need wastewater disposal facilities. Somerset, one of the most financially solvent municipalities in Kentucky, has the wherewithal to extend infrastructure to a beef processing facility. The application for planning funds calls for the facility to be " ... located on 40-plus acres somewhere in the state."

At less than 30 acres, the McCreary County Business Park in Pine Knot does not appear to be a feasible location for the plant. However, according to McCreary County Judge-Executive Blaine Phillips, those working on the project may be looking at a Greenwood site in northern McCreary County.

"It would be a welcome addition to our county," an optimistic Judge Phillips said, noting that the plant could provide jobs not only for McCreary but surrounding counties as well. "750 jobs would have a tremendous impact on our economy."

No information is available concerning the people involved in forming the new company except they are from Kentucky. Dick said everything he has learned about the beef processing plant indicates it would be a good neighbor. He said there are at least two rendering plants in Kentucky that would accept body parts of the cattle and hogs not used by the processing facility. Also, Dick noted that the plant would operate under strict environmental protection agency rules, both state and national.