Osceola Mayor Dickie Kennemore says he was shocked to learn about the death of Big River Steel CEO John Correnti. Correnti passed away Tuesday morning while in Chicago on a business trip. Correnti has been the driving force for the 1.3 billion dollar project in Osceola. Hundreds of workers are on site building the project. Kennemore says he expects the push for completion of the project to continue.
“This project is about 85% complete and it will continue to be a monument to John. When you have the investors that are in the project, and the team that John put together, I would expect that this project would go forward as scheduled on toward completion.”
Investors in the project include the Arkansas Retired Teachers Association and the Koch Brothers, which are said to be the largest investors in the group. Big River Steel will be managed by its operating committee.
The project is still expected to be complete next summer.