DuPont manager speaks to chamber
Hopkins calls valley ‘very right place to live’By JEFFREY SAULTON
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VIENNA - For the fourth year the Chamber of Commerce of the Mid-Ohio Valley honored local industries.
This year the speaker for the annual luncheon was Bill Hopkins, DuPont Washington Works plant manager. Hopkins spoke on what is right about the Mid-Ohio Valley.
Hopkins, a Charleston native who has worked for DuPont for 28 years in various locations, said there are a number of positives making the valley "a very right place to live."
Hopkins said DuPont's history in the Mid-Ohio Valley goes back 60 years when the company decided to build a plant here to produce Nylon.
"Industry was changing focus from supplying a war effort to meeting the peace-time needs of a baby booming population," he said. "One company, DuPont , made a decision to build a new factory to produce Nylon in the Mid-Ohio Valley."
Hopkins said the decision resulted in 170 jobs. Over the years, he said, 5,000 people have been employed at the plant but there is no way to count the number of indirect jobs created by the plant.
Hopkins said the payroll is more than $100 million with another $100 million spent on goods and services, in addition to $40 million in energy costs and $5 million in taxes.
Hopkins said the company was attracted to the area because of an expanse of land ready for industrial development located next to the Ohio River for transportation and to process water, large reserves of natural gas and coal and a great workforce.
"It is a simple mixture that was the initial recipe for success," he said.
Hopkins said he is encouraged by development in Parkersburg and the area such as the new farmers market, the expansion projects at the Bureau of the Public Debt, Camden-Clark Memorial Hospital's new south tower, the new Mountain State Blue Cross Blue Shield building, upgraded business facades along Market Street, Hino Motors in Williamstown and WVU-P has a building downtown.
"Something is very right with our local government or else we wouldn't be seeing that kind of positive change," he said.
Other factors making the area right, Hopkins said, are the workforce, affordable housing, a low crime rate, local business, government and non-profit leaders, investment in schools, post-high school education opportunities, investment in hospital upgrades, investment in roads and bridges, governmental changes at the state level and the local media.
"One of the most significant 'right things' about this community to me has been the men and women of DuPont," he said. "When I attend most any event in the area from the Taste of Parkersburg to any sporting event, I am always proud to look around me to see how many DuPont people are there, volunteering their time."
Hopkins reminded the audience the United Way of the Mid-Ohio Valley has started its 2009 campaign.
