Kingsport Times-News from Kingsport, Tennessee • 16

4 A i v( 6B Kingsport Tlmes-News Wednesday November 20 105 usnsss Phipps Bend: A legacy of mishap Recruiters jubilant decision with By KIM KENNESON Times-News Business Editor Industrial recruiters Tuesday called the decision to sell the TVA Phipps Bend property a giant step forward in building Hawkins and western Sullivan economic base They forecast industries would be lining up at Hawkins door hoping to locate plants on the 1172-acre abandoned nu-dear plcint But some who pushed for decision were disappointed be-cause the federal agency opted to sell the property rather than nate it to Hawkins County TVA board members estimated the property would be appraised at about $5 million or $4400 per acre and sold at fair market price Tuesday Hawkins County Executive JB Howe and industrial recruiter Ronnie Price said no potential investors have been attracted to purchase the site But other developers said Hawkins County most likely would purchase the land possibly in portions and use it as an industrial park would say that if you asked the people of Hawkins County to approve a bond issue to purchase the land vote for it speculated one member of the task force working toward TVA decision Other economic developers said Hawkins County had once pro-posed buying a portion of the land developing it as a park and selling it then using the money to buy another portion and repeating the development process Most Hawkins County and Kingsport developers said the $5 mu lion price tag is too high but added at least TVA proposed a start ing point for beginning price negotiations on the property Earlier this year Hawkins County had state officials study the property and concluded it could use 503 acres of the site But now with the entire piece for sale those plans might be reconsidered County could very well be interested in it" said Howe I However he stressed the key factor is the change of heart by TVA Hawkins County can plan its economic future with the land Price added the decision to sell the land was made only after Hawkins County and Kingsport developers and their congressional delegation applied on TVA The Kingsport Area Chamber of Commerce formally yielded its support last summer but took a back seat on the project to Hawkins County said chamber President Bill Ring Most credited work of US Rep James Quillen and Industrial Commision Chairman Robert Lane also chairman of Citizens Union Bank with bringing about the final decision TVA board member Johnny Waters had supported the sale as early as last spring while Charles Dean voiced his private support last summer Dr Richard Freeman though had ardently opposed the sale hoping to save the land for future energy-re-source plants Boots Duke of Holston Glass Co who has worked to develop a comaraderie between Hawkins County and Kingsport said he frankly in decision this is way of getting egg off their face then they made a poor decision They ought to have given it to the Duke said i A Times News file photo Phipps Bend construction workers watch the tools of their trade auctioned off in 1982 By MARY KISS Tlmes-News Lead Feature Writer -It was the best news local Economy-watchers had heard in years And it came on Wednesday April 2 1975 with a headline in the Kingsport Times: Nuclear Site I It now seemed "almost the story said that the Tennessee Valley Authority would build its next nuclear generating plant on a bend in the Holston River near Surgoinsville Officials cautioned that there was still chance that TVA might pick another location a site in Tishomingo County Miss But in Hawkins County and Kingsport the rejoicing had already begun TVA had purchased the Phipps Bend site in September 1974 after placing an order for major equipment and fuel for two new two-unit nuclear plants The plants were to become links in a chain of nuclear generating facilities designed to meet the electric power needs of the region TVA said At its peak the project was to require 2750 workers Slated to go into operation by 1982-83 the Phipps Bend plant would have a generating capacity of about 26 billion kilowatts Its projected cost: $16 billion lRep James Quillen of EJingsport said the approval of the site had opened the way for -a area of industrial An Economic Bonanza From the beginning the project promised an economic bonanza for landowners Realtors and people in the mobile-home business Drawing on its vast experience in the construction of nuclear plants TVA predicted that 750 of the construction workers would come from other areas and that 525 of them would bring their families About 230 families would need apartments or houses and 295 would need mobile homes In Hawkins County Judge JB Howe called it a economic By the following fall the construction project had become a certainty and Phipps Bend Project Coordinator Jim Point told the Kingsport Board of Mayor and Aldermen to expect a on the local economy A question of need Here and there doubters cast along with two nuclear power units at Hartsville because they would not be needed to meet future demands for electricity TVA said the cancellation would save the consumers of TVA power a total of $546 million in the coming 20 years In August 1982 construction at Phipps Bend came to a halt TVA had spent about $1 billion and about 27 percent of the plant had been completed Since then a few companies have shown an interest in the site One even worked out an agreement with TVA for access and leasing But the deal fell through Phipps Bend was gone and in a March 1984 Times-News fol low-up Hawkins industrial development coordinator Ron Price said the local economy still suffered from its loss expenses for a total of $6 million but still Hawkins County was unhappy A state legislative committee concluded that TVA was doing nearly to help the county Soaring costs In 1979 new thorns began to appear TVA admitted that it had underestimated the cost of building the plant and added another $200 million to the estimated cost It also announced plans to delay completion of the plant until 1990 to the climb in electric The federal General Accounting Office said TVA had overestimated the future demand for power in the region And in October 1979 TVA revealed that Phipps ultimate cost would be $1 billion higher that the original estimate New total $295 billion Meanwhile construction proceeded and TVA began the mammoth job of bringing two giant reactor vessels from New Orleans to Phipps Bend using Ship barge rail and highway It took more than a year to move the two 1200 ton vessels to the site Lights out A year after the second vessel was hoisted into place TVA broke the news: Phipps Bend was slated for cancellation some shadows Two protest groups the Knoxville-based East Tennessee Energy Group and the local Citizens for Action and Research on Energy challenged the project saying TVA had exaggerated the coming need for electric power The doubters also questioned the safety of the plant And they contended that Hawkins County might soon find some thorns in their rosy economic picture They wondered where the financially strapped Hawkins County would get the money to provide new classrooms and police and fire protection and sewer service for all the newcomers Even the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission expressed some doubts about figures on the future needs for electric power But in the end the NRC approved the project and by April 1977 the houses were gone from the Phipps Bend site and a drilling rig had begun taking core samples The in-migration was under way and late in 1977 Hawkins Countians began pushing TVA for some financial help with the extra expense of providing services for the newcomers Early in 1978 TVA agreed to contribute $3 million toward the construction of two new high schools A few months later TVA added another $21 million for other Grand Piano opens for business Textile union rebuts lawsuit Grand Piano and Furniture Co opens Thursday for business in downtown Kingsport with 40000 square feet of show space and an additional 30000 square feet for a warehouse Over the past few months the Roanoke-based furniture firm rated by trade magazines as the 39th largest in the nation has completely renovated the old Miller's department store at the corner of Broad and Center streets Paul Bellamy furniture had a store at the site before Grand Piano purchased it for $350-000 and spent about that much renovating the building Clarence Creamer most recently manager of a Grand Piano store in Lynchburg Va will manage the store Despite its name Grand Piano sells few pianos and specializes in fine furniture Creamer said Merchandising Manager BL Carroll said Grand Piano except in one instance always chooses downtown sites for its 23 stores located from Maryland to Bristol Va because of the of downtown to a Grand Piano is a family owned chain George Cart-ledge Sr is chairman and his son is president dissatisfaction with the outcome of bargaining is to some extent unavoidable and does not necessarily indij cate any breach of duty by the wrote Shine referring to a similar case involving postal workers 1 implementing the trusteeship the UTWA denies to the (dissident union members) the inconceivable pleasure of committing economic suicide the destruction of 1100 jobs opportunities for their co-members the resulting demise of their employer NARC and the natu ral economic chaos such activity would render unpon their the suit reads put the UTWA frustrated (the dissidents) inglorious attempt at economic it adds unit does not constitute a breach of the 2207 to fairly represent1 its April 1 the international revoked the authority of the local union placing it in a trusteeship and ordered the 10 percent wage cut plus less vacation days be accepted The international claims it took the actions to save Carter largest employer from shutting down as was threatened by NARC chairman James Walker because of the impact ofitextile imports In response 10 union members claiming to represent several more employees filed the federal lawsuit against UTWA the Local trustee James Altom and NARC The company has since restored one-third of the concessions By KIM KENNESON Times-News Business Editor GREENE VILLE United Textile Workers of America responded Tuesday to a lawsuit 'filed against it by a group of dissident Local 2207 members at -the North American Rayon Corp I In the lengthy rebuttal of the levied Sept 27 in US District Court the international union claims it took the steps to save the plant by ordering wage concessions be accepted The concessions had been twice rejected The suit filed by UTWA attorney Bruce Shine said the "mere fact the collective bargaining agreement was lawfully changed to reflect reduced salaries for those in the bargaining ri nes News photo Eorl Carter Finishing touches are put on Grand Piano and Furniture store changed General Shale Products 26 26 30 31 43 45 12 13 25 Va 25 22 23 19 19 Lance Inc Penn Virginia Service Merchandise Third National United Cities Gas Westmoreland Coal Palladium Engelhard Corp quoted a base price for bullion palladium of 9900 off 200 per troy ounce and a price for fabricated palladium of 11400 off 200 JCimsey said the Dow would find initial support at 1420 on the Dow and at 11200 on the New York Stock Exchange composite in- Early bond market strength encouraging hopes for further declines in interest rates supported higher equity prices initially analysts said The 30-year Treasury price rose enough so that for the first time in five years it traded with a yield below 10 percent Mutual Funds NEW YORK (UPI) Selected Mutual Funds: Affiliated Fund 932 1005 Anchor Fund Inv 1346 1471 Bullock Fund no quote Concord Fund 2843 2843 Delaware Mutual 1995 2180 Fidelity Fund 1731 1731 Hamilton Hda 670 732 Investors Mutual 1147 1207 Investors Stocks 1754 1846 Inv Var Pay 915 964 Invest Select 820 863 Mass Inv Growth 1198 1292 Nicholas Fund 393 393 United Accumulated 834 911 United Income 1500 1639 Vanguard Wellington 1379 1379 Listed Securities Air Products 8t Chemicals American Electric Power Bank of Virginia Corroon 8 Black CSX Resources Dominion Resources Eastman Kodak Exxon Holiday Inns Hospital Corp of America IBM Kmart Kroger Lowe's Co McDonalds Mead Corp Mobil Corp JC Penney Co Pittston Coal Co Ramada Inns Revco Drug Sears Sherwin Williams Singer Southern Co Sterchi Bros JP Stevens MARKETS AT A GLANCE By United Press International NYSE Stocks Mixed in heavy trading Bonds Higher American Stocks Mixed in active trading London Stocks Closed higher in moderate trading Cotton Futures Higher Gold Futures Mostly lower Chicago Grain Futures Soybeans closed up 1 to 7 cents corn up 2 to off wheat up 6 to off 1 and oats up 1 to 2 cents Cattle trade Sales Insufficient to establish a market trend Stocks finish mixed NEW YORK The stock market finished mixed in heavy trading Tuesday as investors took profits in blue chip issues The Dow Jones industrial average which made a new record high Monday eased 103 to 143899 IBroader indicators were mixed The New York Stock Exchange index rose 007 to U462 Standard 500-stock index eased 004 to 19867 The price of an average share rose two cents Advances outpaced declines 1004632 among the 2057 issues traded Big Board volume totaled 126140000 shares compared with 108360000 Monday Composite volume of NYSE-listed issues on all US exchanges and over the counter totaled 150985150 shares compared with 129038-540 traded Monday Analysts attributed weakness during the afternoon to a combination of the bond mar- T77 backing down from early highs and to 198 67 Down 0 04 desire to take profits after recent advances market has had a pretty good said Don Kimsey senior technical analyst at Dean Witter Reynolds market has moved quite a distance in a short period ot said Harry Villec of Sutro Co would not be unreasonable to see it retrace some if not all of the distance back to But Villec said after testing 1400 on the Dow the market will resume its upward course towards 1500 eJComposi'teJI Morning fixing 32410 up 010 Afternoon fixing 32435 up 035 Close 32450 UP 050 Paris 32626 up 125 Zurich 32490 up 115 Hong Kong 32425 up 030 New York Comex spot close 32380 up 010 Republic cash 32400 unchanged Handy and Harman 32460 up 085 Engelhard Corp quoted a base price for refining settling and unfabricated gold of 32475 up 085 per trov ounce Selling price fabricated gold 34099 up 089 per troy ounce Silver Comex spot close 6094 up 0007 Republic cash 610 up (01 Handy and Harman quoted silver at 6115 per fine ounce up 003 Engelhard Corp quoted a base price for industrial silver of 6125 up 0025 and a price for fabricated silver products of 6554 up 0027 Platinum Engelhard Corp quoted a base price for bullion platinum of 33650 up 200 per troy ounce and a price for fabricated platinum of 52500 un Local stocks Gold silver By JC Bradford Co Tuesday Close Unlisted Securities NEW YORK (UPI) Foreign and domestic gold silver platinum palladium prices quoted in dollars per troy ounce Tuesday: Gold London Previous close fix 32400 off 075 AFG Industries Commerce Union Bank Cracker Barrel Crump Co's Inc First American First Tennessee Bank Food Lions Inc.