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Expanding V&M plant to host Obama
By DAVID SKOLNICK
YOUNGSTOWN
President Barack Obama will get a firsthand look at a company that decided to build a $650 million expansion in the Mahoning Valley, in part, because of money from the federal stimulus package.
Obama is expected to speak about jobs and the economy at 1:35 p.m. Tuesday at V&M Star on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Youngstown. He will tour the plant before the speech and talk to V&M workers.
“We are all just very excited and very proud to be hosting the president on Tuesday,” said Joel Mastervich, V&M’s president and chief operating officer. “We think it’s a wonderful recognition for V&M Star and the Mahoning Valley.”
V&M Star announced in February that it will build a $650 million expansion next to its current site.
V&M makes seamless tubes for the gas and oil industry.
The new mill is expected to begin production at the end of next year with full production by the end of 2012.
The expansion will create 400 construction jobs. When the plant opens, there will be 230 employees working directly for V&M and 120 contract workers at the new facility.
About $19 million from the federal stimulus package played a part in helping officials from V&M and its parent company, Vallourec of Paris, decide to expand here.
“The expansion of V&M Star shows how the [stimulus package] and enforcement of trade laws have helped to create jobs,” said U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Avon.
The Obama event is closed to the public. Obama is to arrive at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Vienna about 12:50 p.m. Tuesday. Air Force One is expected to leave about 3:20 p.m.