NATCHEZ &045; The deal has been signed for Tessenderlo Davison Chemical to buy a storage terminal at the Natchez-Adams County Port from International Paper, TDC official Steve Nathanson confirmed Tuesday.

&uot;Next, we’ll put a construction plan together Š to modernize the facility,&uot; said Nathanson, the company’s vice president and general manager.

The facility would store caustic soda and sodium hydrosulfide, which are used in the chemical production and paper industries.

Nathanson said TDC is going to refurbish chemical tanks currently at the site, surrounding them with earth-lined berms. A 24-hour response team will be on site in case of spills.

Since IP cut holes in the steel tanks in order to clean them out after the IP mill closed, TDC will also repair the tanks. Refurbishing the facility is expected to take about six months.

The company will begin hiring additional people after the construction plan is finished, he said, adding that &uot;we’ll look at (hiring) existing employees first.&uot;

The terminal, which TDC subsidiary Davison Trucking has operated for more than 15 years, already employs 20 people and will hire about 10 more, Nathanson has said.

This isn’t the first Tessenderlo has considered having a bigger presence in Adams County. In January 2003, then-Gov. Ronnie Musgrove announced Tessenderlo would locate a chemical mixing and storage facility.

That facility would have been located in the old Ethyl Petroleum building.

Then in June, Tessenderlo officials said the company wouldn’t locate there due to uncertainty over the future of rail service to the area &045; concerns Nathanson said have since been resolved.

But in more recent meetings, Canadian National officials said they had no plans to stop rail service in the foreseeable future, according to Nathanson.

Nathanson has said Natchez’s location near the center of the highest concentration of pulp and paper mills and petrochemical industries made it a good location for the facility.