JEFFERSON COUNTY, Ark. – One of the largest industrial projects in Arkansas is being completed in Jefferson County, bringing more than 200 new jobs and hoping to bring economic stability.

“It is a very, very big deal for this part of the state,” Jefferson County Judge Gerald Robinson said.

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Pine trees and open land hold the potential for the new GTL Americas plant.

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“It is a refinery of changing natural gas to a liquid form to use as fuel,” Robinson said. “It is a cleaner burning fuel that does not have the environmental fuel hazards that we have now.”

GTL Americas is using 1,800 acres in Jefferson County to build their new home.
 

“Out of all of the places in the world that they researched, trying to locate this plant, there is only 4 others around the world, that Jefferson County was the place that best suited them in the whole U.S.,” Robinson said.

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Robinson said this is huge for the county because of how many jobs it will bring.
 

“About 200 permanent jobs and it will also host about 2,500 construction workers,” Robinson said.

Which in turn, Robinson said, will impact restaurants, housing, and other areas of the community.

“Sometimes you know when you have had an area that has been economically depressed, sometimes you get kind of down but with the recent things that have been going down in Jefferson County with the casino and GLTA, we have a future, we just have to be ready to receive it,” Robinson said.
 

Robinson said this plan has been in the works for the last 4 to 5 years and he said they should be hosting a ground-breaking ceremony sometime in September.
 

The gas will be used for the military as well as for people needing fuel in the community.