The incentive, in the form of a tax rebate, was approved Friday by the Governor's Office of Economic Development Board. It provides a partial refund of taxes the company would pay in Utah over a 10-year period.

In its application for state money, Allegheny said it is looking for a site on which to build a $300 million manufacturing facility that would employ approximately 150 people earning an average of more than $45,000 annually. The company would not divulge where it is considering building in Tooele County.

"We're very early in the [site selection] process," said Allegheny spokesman Dan Greenfield. "We think highly of the Utah location but we can't comment any further at this time."

Allegheny, with revenues of about $3.54 billion last year, is one of the largest metals producers worldwide. It has about 9,300 employees worldwide and a presence in about 12 states, including Oregon, Washington, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Indiana and Connecticut.

GOED board members said the company was worthy of state money.

"It's a great company, these are great jobs and they would be making a large capital investment," said board member Mark D. Howell, chairman of the GOED board's recruitment subcommittee.

Howell said the only concern about the company was the fact that Utah has been able to get little information about which other states are vying for the project and what types of economic development incentives those states are offering.

Allegheny said it will not divulge any other U.S. sites it may be considering and would not provide a time line for making a decision about where it will expand.

So far this year, GOED has approved incentives totalling about $20 million to companies considering expansion in Utah. The state estimates between 70 percent and 90 percent of companies offered some type of incentive end up expanding in the state.

lesley@sltrib.com

Economic development incentive offers

* $2 million to Iowa-based West Liberty Foods for new meat processing and distribution facility that will add 500 jobs.

* $1.5 million to German medical products manufacturer Fresenius Medical Care for expansion of Ogden manufacturing plant that will add 270 jobs.

* $15 million to high-tech giants Micron Technology Inc. and Intel Corp. for joint venture in Lehi that will add 1,850 new jobs within two years.