Cumberland County is being considered as the site for construction of a titanium reprocessing facility, and the company that plans to build the plant, American Titanium Metal LLC, is seeking to borrow up to $1.3 billion to make it happen.
If the company chooses Cumberland County, its plant would be built at 557 Bethune Drive, according to a legal notice the county published in The Fayetteville Observer. This property is behind the Goodyear Tire & Rubber factory on Ramsey Street north of Fayetteville’s city limits.
“I am not personally aware of every location they are considering, but they are evaluating multiple sites in multiple states,” Chairman Glenn Adams of the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners told CityView.
“The company has been pursuing this vigorously,” Cumberland County Attorney Rick Moorefield told the commissioners at the board’s meeting Monday morning. The plant would extract titanium from items that contain it, he said.
The number of people the company would employ, the expected salaries, and similar information were not available on Monday.
Titanium is a metal with many uses, including in airplanes, jewelry, sports equipment and eyeglass frames, according to Canadian metal recycling company Cohen Recycling. It’s known for its strength and resistance to corrosion.
The Cumberland County Board of Commissioners held a public hearing on Monday morning on the plan to sell $1.3 billion in bonds; no speakers signed up for comment.
Then the commissioners voted unanimously for a county agency called the Industrial Facilities and Pollution Control Financing Authority to issue the bonds on behalf of American Titanium Metal. The company would be responsible for paying back the debt, not the county government, county spokeswoman Diane Rice told CityView.
The financing authority aids in the financing of industrial and manufacturing facilities, the county’s website says.
Taxpayers would have no responsibility for the debt if the company were to default, Adams said.
“The bonds do not constitute a debt for the state of North Carolina or any political subdivision or any agency thereof, including the authority and the county,” Adams said. “There is no liability on that.”
The bonds would be issued through the Cumberland County Industrial Facilities Authority as required per state law. The plan is for $750 million of the $1.3 billion in bonds to be tax exempt — the lender would not be taxed on income from the bonds.
Reporter Lexi Solomon can be reached at lsolomon@cityviewnc.com or 910-423-6500. Senior reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at 910-261-4710 and pwoolverton@cityviewnc.com.
This story was made possible by contributions to CityView News Fund, a 501c3 charitable organization committed to an informed democracy.
