The expansion of RockTenn’s facility with the creation of a new $25-million chip mill is terrific news for Marengo County.

With this business expanding, that means more revenue for the county and more commerce to this area.

Although the Saltwell chip mill will provide only 16 jobs — still 16 more jobs than we had before — the construction project is expecting to provide around 200 jobs from now until March, when the project is expected to be completed.

A lot of people went to work to make the Saltwell chip mill a reality, a lot of local people with this area’s best interests in mind.

We have the Marengo County Economic Development Agency and the Demopolis Industrial Development Board, the contingency who went to Montgomery — twice — and was able to get every cent it asked for to improve the airport industrial park road — twice, the Demopolis City Council, and many other people and agencies that may not see their name in print but deserve equal amounts of gratitude for their efforts.

Come March, the new chip mill will be able to provide excess amounts of wood chip for sale to third parties. That means more revenue coming into Marengo County and our communities.

Congratulations to everyone involved in the success for this project — and thank you.