Nucor To Begin Hiring For La. Plant

VACHERIE, La. (AP) -- Nucor Corp. is set to begin hiring next week for its proposed $3.4 billion steel facility in St. James Parish.

In the past week or so, Les Hart, Nucor Steel Louisiana general manager, tells The Advocate (http://bit.ly/T4B1IW [1]) storage domes have been inflated on the site to hold iron ore. Hart said the domes are still undergoing internal construction.

Hart says the $750 million first construction phase is expected to bring in 150 jobs by the end of 2012.

The full, five-phase steel facility, on 4,000 acres of the parish's east bank, will produce 1,250 permanent jobs.

Currently, Hart says there are 644 contractors on-site, with more than 30 percent of them local hires.

He says the facility is still looking to start up in mid-2013.