There are people across Missouri who believe that our process of government is broken and beyond repair; that our public institutions are no longer capable of solving big problems and doing good things for the people they represent.
These ideas too often bleed into the thought process of hard-working Missouri families, who have been misled by the east coast media into believing rural Missouri is on a steady decline that cannot be reversed. Too many have lost hope that industry is never coming back.
Here in the Show-Me State, we have refused to neglect the economic challenges in rural Missouri and disproven the notion that we cannot bring industry and back business to rural Missouri. The announcement Friday of Magnitude 7 Metals beginning operations in New Madrid County demonstrates that we still have the capacity to solve big problems.
For many in Southeast Missouri, the loss of jobs when the aluminum smelter closed in 2016 crippled the region's economy to the point where it seemed to have no possible solution. It is why I cannot think of anything more appropriate than for this extraordinary facility to go into what is known as the St. Jude's Industrial Park. St. Jude is known as the patron saint of lost causes because he stressed the importance of unwavering faith even in the face of the most dire of circumstances.
Fortunately, community leaders and legislators shared this unwavering faith when many others saw this task as an impossible cause. Last May, when an opportunity presented itself to bring jobs to the area, we passionately fought to pass legislation that would open the door for industry to come back to Missouri. The result of those efforts was a special session and a mechanism where Magnitude 7 Metals and other high utility users around the state can negotiate a competitive electric rate with the Public Service Commission.
We showed Missourians that we were going to compete for some of the highest-payingjobs in industry - averaging $64,000 a year.
This is a game-changer for the region. It is the early signs of the revitalization of a resilient community that looked to our state to build a better business environment and make us competitive in attracting new industries. The Missouri House of Representatives listened and delivered, resulting in as many as 450 jobs when the smelter comes online in the near future. It is only the start though, as the state and region continue fighting to bring more high-paying jobs back to the Bootheel.
Over the last 15 months, the Missouri General Assembly has defied conventional wisdom by tackling the tough problems facing Missouri. We recognized that we must have jobs to raise the middle class and we have set out to create a level playing field with the states around us. We have seized the opportunity to make Missouri the most competitive economic environment in the nation and declared that Missouri is open for business.
Friday, our work product delivered several hundred high-paying jobs to a region of the state that is desperately in need of them. Many more great things are still to come.