Update 10:06 a.m. March 3: The presentation by Pure Salmon scheduled for Monday night in Russell County has been postponed. A new date has not yet been set.
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Russell County leaders will get an update Monday night on the large salmon farm that has been in the works for 12 years and is being developed near the Tazewell County-Russell County line.
A presentation will be given to the county’s board of supervisors by Paul Inskeep, project manager and chief operations officer for Pure Salmon, a global salmon farming and processing company headquartered in Abu Dhabi.
The farm is being built on a 200-acre site behind Southwest Virginia Community College. A Pure Salmon spokesperson said in December that the project remained on track to open in mid-2028.
It is expected to create more than 200 jobs, with hiring starting in 2027, possibly beginning in 2026, the company spokesperson said earlier.
The idea for the project came from Del. Will Morefield, R-Tazewell County, after he visited Israel in 2013 and met with a company that supplies technology for commercial aquaculture operations.
Russell County Administrator Lonzo Lester said Friday that he understands the project continues to move forward and expects the update to be positive.
Because the project is in Tazewell and Russell counties, the two county governments split the work necessary to prepare for the salmon farm. Russell County is responsible for the construction of an access road to the site, and Tazewell County is handling water and sewer improvements.
There has been a delay in building the access road. Lester said the project was bid out recently, and the bids came in high so the county is trying to figure out what to do. The county has about $1 million for the project, and $850,000 of that amount is a grant from the Virginia Department of Transportation, he said.
The meeting starts at 6 p.m. Monday and is being held at the county’s governmental center in Lebanon. View the agenda here.
