TAZEWELL, VA – May 15, 2020 — Documents were signed Friday closing on a $500,000 loan from the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority (VCEDA) to the Tazewell County Industrial Development Authority to be used to finance the purchase of equipment, machinery and tools to assist Clinch River Forest Products, Inc. (CRFP) in Tazewell County.
Clinch River Forest Products is a large sawmill operation in Tazewell which currently employs 85 direct full-time employees.
The company began its operations in Tazewell County in 2005 and has previously received funding from VCEDA which it paid off in 2013.
“VCEDA is pleased to be able to make this loan to the Tazewell County IDA to be utilized to assist Clinch River Forest Products,” said VCEDA Executive Director/General Counsel Jonathan Belcher. “While the company has 85 direct employees, the large number of truckers, loggers and others required to supply the facility, bring that employment up by another 250 additional indirect workers according to CRFP estimates. The business truly has been a success story for Tazewell County, VCEDA and the region.”
The company anticipates as a result of the loan it will be able to retain the current jobs and add five to 10 additional jobs in the next two years.
“On behalf of the Tazewell County Board of Supervisors and the IDA, we are glad to once again partner with CRFP to continue to provide jobs for our residents,” said Tazewell County Administrator Eric Young. “The county and Clinch River have a long history of success. This is our third financing project with them, including the recession of 2009 and now the COVID crisis. They have stuck with Tazewell County through difficult times when they did not have to and we know they will again. We want to thank them for their continued confidence in Tazewell County’s work force.
“We also would like to thank the Virginia Small Business Financing Authority, VCEDA, our IDA, and all their staff, including Jonathan Belcher and our own Economic Development Manager, Pam Warden, for putting this deal together and fast tracking it with all the financial uncertainty swirling around us right now,” Young concluded.
About Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority and Southwest Virginia’s e-Region: The Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority, created by the Virginia General Assembly in 1988 to enhance and diversify the region’s economy and help create jobs, markets Southwest Virginia’s e-Region and its focus on electronic information technology, energy, education, emerging technologies, and entrepreneurship. VCEDA is a unique economic development organization that manages funds for economic development projects from a percentage of the coal and natural gas severance taxes paid by coal and natural gas companies that operate in the region. Located in southwestern Virginia, the region includes Buchanan, Dickenson, Lee, Russell, Scott, Tazewell, and Wise counties and the City of Norton. www.vceda.us or www.e-Region.org.