Former VX site to bring jobs?

VERMILLION COUNTY, Ind. (WTHI) - Vermillion County is reeling from 11 percent unemployment.

VX elimination at the Newport Chemical Depot was bittersweet for the area, ridding it of a dangerous chemical, but this was at the expense of hundreds of jobs.

Since the VX stockpile was eliminated last summer, employees have been preparing the land to be turned over to a caretaker organization.

Cleanup is expected to be complete at the end of this year.
The caretaker organization will take control of the land if and when the government turns it over.

The organization is inviting the public to meetings to hear their ideas about what to do with the land.

"We have thought about this for years, but we wanted to get ideas from everybody," said president of the Newport Reuse Authority, Jack Fenoglio. "There's room for all kinds of things: industrial development, agricultural, hunting, taking a walk through the woods."

Fenoglio says they hope to use the 7,000 acres of land to bring jobs to an area devastated by the economic meltdown.

"One of our main goals is to bring jobs to the county," said Fenoglio. "We've got tremendous infrastructure that's there, we've got a water supply that is just fantastic."

With these resources, the development organization says, though nothing will happen over night, they're hopeful for a long-term plan that brings jobs and money to Vermillion County.

Two more meetings like this one will be held later this year.

In the meantime, the public is asked to send their ideas to the Vermillion County Economic Development Organization .