An update on the long-awaited salmon farm project is back on the agenda for Monday night’s Russell County Board of Supervisors meeting.
Originally, the update was on the agenda for the board’s March 3 meeting, but it was postponed.
This time, Del. Will Morefield, R-Tazewell County, will be involved in the presentation along with Paul Inskeep, project manager and chief operations officer for Pure Salmon, a global salmon farming and processing company headquartered in Abu Dhabi, according to the agenda. The company is bringing the project to Southwest Virginia.
The project has been in the works for 12 years and was Morefield’s idea after he visited Israel and met with a company that supplies technology for commercial aquaculture operations.
The farm is being built on a 200-acre site behind Southwest Virginia Community College, on the Tazewell County-Russell County line. In December, a spokesperson for Pure Salmon said the project is expected to open in mid-2028 and create more than 200 jobs.
The contract for the access road the county is building to the salmon farm site is also on the agenda. The road was delayed after bids came in higher than expected, and Morefield and a spokesperson for Pure Salmon said late last year that the road needs to be built soon so it doesn’t delay the project from moving forward this spring.
Because the project is in both Russell and Tazewell counties, Russell is handling the road while Tazewell County is handling water and sewer improvements.
The meeting starts at 4 p.m. Monday at the county’s governmental center in Lebanon. View the agenda here.
