Meeting in Cedar City, the board offered Charlotte Pipe and Foundry $875,000 in tax rebates to start operations in an industrial park in this southwestern Utah city.

It also approved an incentive package of tax rebates worth $8.35 million to yogurt manufacturer The Dannon Co. Inc., which is planning an expansion of its current production facility in West Jordan that could cost $200 million.

GOED officials and board members said the money allocated to Dannon - which has been in Utah since 1997 - is to discourage the company from expanding one of its other U.S. plants instead.

"We gave them this award hoping [Dannon] chooses to stay in Utah," said Michael Nelson, managing director of recruitment for the GOED.

But Dannon spokesman Michael Neuwirth said Thursday the company only has two other plants and already plans to expand its Minster, Ohio, facility in addition to the West Jordan site.

He said work on the West Jordan project, which the state anticipates Dannon will spend $175 to $200 million on site and $12 to $16 million on infrastructure improvements and a water treatment facility for West Jordan, will begin immediately.

"I would not characterize [getting the expansion] as a competition," Neuwirth said. "The discussions with the state were specific to the facility in Utah."

Nelson said the Dannon project would also benefit Utah's dairy industry by adding an additional 30,000 head of dairy cows. GOED said the Dannon expansion, which includes adding 10 production lines, will bring 295 new jobs to the West Jordan plant.

Charlotte Pipe and Foundry, based in Charlotte, N.C., plans to hire 40 people at a planned facility in Cedar City and eventually increase employment to 100.

The incentives would be paid out in tax rebates over a 10 year period for Charlotte Pipe and seven years for Dannon. In exchange, both companies must agree to stay in Utah for 10 years and pay new employees 150 percent of the median wages currently being paid in Salt Lake and Iron counties.