Rather than raise Atlantic salmon at the huge aquaculture farm being developed in Russell and Tazewell counties, the company developing it has decided to go with the lookalike steelhead trout instead.
Russell County officials are also moving forward with construction of the delayed access road to the front of the project site, which will allow larger trucks — needed to place 20 miles of water pipes in the ground — on the site.
The switch in the fish was made because of inflation and the high cost of construction in the United States, Pure Salmon officials said. Steelhead trout is generally less expensive in stores — about $4 less per pound — which could make it more attractive to consumers worried about rising inflation.
The change was discussed during the April 7 meeting of the Russell County Board of Supervisors in Lebanon, which was attended by three Pure Salmon officials, one in person and two via Zoom. The company, a global salmon farming and processing company headquartered in Abu Dhabi, gave county leaders an update on the project.
The fish farm, sometimes referred to as Project Jonah, will be built on about 200 acres of land behind Southwest Virginia Community College. The fish will be raised in giant tanks and harvested and processed on site.
Previously, Pure Salmon officials said the project was expected to cost a total of about $300 million, but they now will only say it will cost “hundreds of millions of dollars.”
It’s not the first time the fish that will be grown at the farm has been switched. Originally, the plan was for it to be a tilapia operation.
Steelhead trout and salmon are similar and can be mistaken for each other. Both have bright-orange flesh, and they have similar flavor, although steelhead has a slightly milder taste and is less oily. Nutritionally, both are considered good sources of protein and omega-3 fatty acids.
Russell County Administrator Lonzo Lester and David Eaton, chair of the board of supervisors, said they are happy with the change because steelhead trout is less expensive to raise and just as healthy as salmon.
Tazewell County Administrator Eric Young said the primary focus of county leaders is on the “jobs creation and taxable investment numbers from the project, if they can achieve those more efficiently with a different species of fish, we trust their judgment.”
The fish farm is expected to create more than 200 jobs. One supervisor asked how much the pay will be, but the company officials declined to answer the question.
Originally, most of the fish farm would have been in Tazewell County, but that changed to Russell County when issues surfaced with the soil, including sinkholes and porous clay, and the design was reconfigured, company officials said.
During the recent meeting, the Russell County supervisors also voted to move forward with the construction of an access road to the site. The road was supposed to be built last summer, but it was delayed by nearly a year because of higher-than-expected bids and because it took time to line up grants for the project, Lester said.
The road is needed for progress to continue at the site. The narrow roads leading to the back of the property can’t accommodate the large trucks that will be needed to bring in the 20 miles of water pipes that will be placed underground at the site, company officials said.
The road will be 1,123 feet long, according to Lester. Bizzack Construction has been hired to build the road, although an engineer with Bizzack said at the meeting that much of the work on the road base was done as other work on the site was completed. Bizzack also handled soil remediation for the project.
Construction of the road is expected to start within 30 days and be completed in about nine months, the county administrator said.
To help pay for the project, the Virginia Department of Transportation approved an Economic Development Access Grant of $850,000 for a road to the fish farm and turn lane improvements on U.S. 19, according to Michelle Earl, communications manager for VDOT’s Bristol District.
The board of supervisors also approved using about $423,000 of the county’s coal and gas severance tax revenues to help pay for the project. Those funds must be used for road work, under state code.
While Russell County is handling the access road project, Tazewell County is making the necessary water and wastewater improvements.
Young said that design of water and wastewater lines and pump stations took a lot of time, and the county also ran into bids that “felt high.” He said he believes that’s because, since 2021, there has been a high demand for contractors to perform federally funded infrastructure projects.
Tazewell County leaders also applied for and were awarded $5.5 million in federal grants for the project, which also took time, he added.
“Hoping that demand and pricing would wane, we planned to advertise for bids this spring and award a contract to construct the necessary water and sewer improvements in the summer,” Young said in an email.
Construction on the water and sewer project is expected to begin this fall, about a year behind the original schedule. It’s expected to take about 15 months to complete, with the cost expected to be more than $10 million, he said.
Placement of the 20 miles of water pipes needed for the project will likely begin in the third or fourth quarter of this year, Pure Salmon officials said. Construction of the fish tanks will be done after that, with the nine buildings planned for the site being built last.
Late last year, Pure Salmon officials said the fish farm would be fully open in mid-2028. At the meeting earlier this month, Paul Inskeep, the company’s chief operations officer, said the timeframe for opening is now late 2028 or early 2029.