"There isn't a state in America that wouldn't want to be doing what we're doing up here today," he said. "There isn't a state in America that wouldn't be proud to have one the great companies in the world announcing this kind of thing."

The governor said Utah's selection is "like the ultimate seal of approval." But he also said he believed the state perhaps did not fully realize last October what the plant would mean in the long term for jobs and manufacturing, which he said is "where the economy begins."

The plant, on a 720-acre site, will be the sixth in the Cincinnati-based company's towel/tissue operations. It will be the company's first new greenfield site in the United States in 30 years.

Nemeth said the plant will have state-of-the-art paper industry equipment, an open environment "full of light" and training opportunities for employees, and it likely will be a magnet for supplier companies to put operations nearby.

"This site," Harrison said, "is going to be something truly special, not just in terms of the results that it delivers but also in terms of the leading-edge environmental impact that it has, and it will be something that you will be proud of and proud to have in your community."

The community already has benefited. On Friday, plant manager Joe Tomon presented a $20,000 donation to the Utah Food Bank.

Huntsman noted the impressive brick-and-mortar elements of the project, but also saluted the opportunities for local workers. "And their careers are going to take off in ways that they can't even dream about today, and that's opportunity," the governor said. "This is real opportunities for human beings, the human potential, that ultimately this business is going to bring to the state that is just unquantifiable at this point."

Box Elder County Commissioner Clark Davis said he was impressed with how well the company treated its employees at a plant in Missouri, and he expects the same in Utah.

"This event is the inception, not the culmination, of a relationship that will be nurtured and cultivated by your company and by our residents for decades and generations to come," he told P&G officials. "I'm confident that the company's investment in our community will continue to grow and that you will be rewarded many times over for your commitment and your site selection of Box Elder County."

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