'Rushed' WVU report could have overstated economic benefits of Nucor deal

When lawmakers last week rushed through a series of bills offering incentives and tax cuts to a steel company interested in opening a new plant in West Virginia, state officials assured them the deal would pay off.

Brian Abraham, Gov. Jim Justice’s chief of staff, pointed to an economic report by West Virginia University’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research that estimated the company’s investment would generate nearly $25 billion for the state’s economy and bring in nearly $439 million in state taxes over the next decade.

“So we think it’s a wise investment,” Abraham said.

The only problem: there were errors and questionable assumptions in the WVU report that could impact its projections.

The version of the three-page report presented to lawmakers included discrepancies in the number of construction workers the project would employ and an unrealistic expectation that all plant employees in the border county would live and pay taxes in West Virginia. While the economic impact of the project would remain substantial, both issues could have led the WVU report to significantly overstate the benefits of the project.

Read more: https://mountainstatespotlight.org/2022/01/20/wvu-report-could-have-overstated-economic-benefits-nucor/