JUDGE’S COMMENTS
In the early 1950’s Alcoa came to Milam County, due to a large supply of coal. The coal was used to make large quantities of electricity to melt ore to make aluminum products.
For over sixty years Alcoa was the largest employer and probably the best paying employer in the county. It was the largest single taxpayer in the county. Huge power lines were built and excess electricity was transmitted over the power lines to points all over America.
All of a sudden in 2008 Alcoa was gone; and later in 2017, so was Luminant. What was left behind?
Clearly, struggling, anxious county residents were left behind. The best jobs were gone and so were the needed tax revenues we all rely on for governmental services, including good county roads.
Also, left behind was a huge facility where untold quantities of aluminum were once produced and huge, 345kv power lines and 33,000 acres of contiguous land. Lastly, was Alcoa’s plan to leave a good footprint by re-developing the site by inviting new business.
I am happy to report that is happening.
Last week, I visited the site with our fine State Representative Terry Wilson and we toured the new Bitmain operation. Bitmain has thousands of “ant miners” set up in the old “pot rooms.”
Those “ant miners” are mining for bitcoins and using the vast amounts of electricity being brought into the facility by those same huge 345kv power lines. In fact, by the end of the year, Bitmain may have as many as 8,000 computers mining online; and Bit-main just hired several new employees in the last couple of weeks.
In addition, we met with another company that plans to make an announcement in the coming weeks. This new company will construct a “purpose built” data center that will become the single largest “blockchain” facility in the world.
The company plans to participate in the cryptocurrency, graphics rendering and artificial intelligence sectors. Their goal is to create a cutting edge technology driven business in Milam County. Undoubtedly, this will be a game changer for our community and our county.
These developments combined with the vast solar farms planned for the county, clearly signifies that Milam County is in the process of change: from the home of making aluminum with fossil fuel to the largest solar producer in the state; from mining coal to mining bitcoins; and from developing aluminum smelting technology to the newest technology of the universe, blockchain.
Ironically, the coal that brought Alcoa to Milam County is still at the root of the future of the county.
Without the coal there was no power. Without the power, there were no 345kv power lines. Without the power lines, there is no power coming to the site. Without the power, technology does not come to Milam County.
The power that brought prosperity to the county for over sixty years will now bring new prosperity to the county for the next sixty years and beyond.
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