From left, Hexion Specialty Chemicals Production Superintendent Hope Hatley; Hempstead County Economic Development Corporation President Steve Harris, handing a check to Hexion Site Leader Ronnie English; Member of the Hempstead County EDC Steve Atchley; and Hexion Plant Engineer Dallas Crumley.

Today a check was presented in the amount of just over $11,000 from the Hempstead County Economic Development Corporation to Hexion Specialty Chemicals, a company with a factory in the in the Hope Industrial Park that makes adhesives for building materials

Hexion recently finished a $22,000 repair and upgrade of a part of its rail spur leading into its Hope site. Erosion, caused by the weight of cars on saturated soil and the bed, had rendered several yards of the spur too unstable to meet the company's standards. HCEDC agreed to a 50 percent match of the cost to replace the bed and other materials to stabilize the rails.

At its Hope site, Hexion has 26 employees, according to Production Superintendent Hope Hatley. She said the fact that the facility, which runs 24 hours a day and seven days a week, receives much of its raw materials by rail made the repair critical. "Rail is very important to our industry. A lot of our major raw materials come by rail. If we're not able to get our raw materials, we're not able to run."

The repaired area of Hexion's rail spur.