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Plans for beef plant shelved for now
TULSA, Okla. (AP)--After 11 months of delays, Smithfield Beef said it could be years before a decision is finally made on plans to build a $200 million processing plant in the Oklahoma Panhandle. The announcement Dec. 4 comes amid concern from some residents that the Wisconsin company has all along used an Oklahoma town as a pawn to acquire longtime rival Swift & Co., a buyout that never happened. "I think they used our governor, I think they used our secretary of agriculture, I think they used everyone," said John Hairford, a resident of Hooker, the tiny cattle town of 1,700 where the beef plant was to be built. "We've been plain jerked around about this whole deal." On Dec. 4, Lyle Orwig, a spokesman for Smithfield, said the project is on hold while the company evaluates the market. "It could be three years, it could be five years," Orwig said. "There has been no decision made." Secretary of Agriculture Terry Peach, who said he speaks with Smithfield officials at least once a quarter, said he believes the plant will eventually be built there, and called the economics of the slaughter business "just terrible" right now. "I don't think in my mind there's any question Smithfield will build this plant," Peach said. "Smithfield has come in there and purchased land. To me, that's an indication they are true to their word that they are going to build this facility." Last October, the Green Bay, Wis.-based company announced construction would begin in January near Hooker. It would bring the largest beef plant built in the United States in 20 years there and with it, as many as 3,000 jobs and a shot at putting the place back on the map. The struggling Texas County town has seen Main Street businesses close and folks leave for neighboring cities in the past decade. It had been grasping for an economic lifeline, and city leaders thought they found one in Smithfield. But a red flag sprung up days after the plant's announcement, when a JP Morgan Chase analyst wrote that a processing plant that size--that would process 5,000 head of cattle daily--would add too much capacity to the industry. Smithfield officials said then there would be plenty of room in the region for their beef operation. The report also questioned whether Smithfield was even going to build in Hooker, theorizing the company's real goal might be to buy out longtime rival Swift & Co. That plan never happened. In May, it was announced Swift would be sold to a Brazilian meat company. Some residents who opposed the plant from the start welcomed news of another delay Dec. 4. "It sure is an early Christmas present," said Howard Kopel, who lives a couple miles from where the plant is to go. "I'm glad they're not coming." To school superintendent Freida Burgess, whose district was bracing to double its 540 students if Smithfield built there, a delay means more time to look at the costs associated by such rapid growth. "More teachers, more desks, more cafeteria workers; it would be an immediate slap in the face," she said. Date: 12/13/07
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