The South Carolina Department of Commerce has offered $7.6 million in incentives to try to lure a proposed Michelin expansion to Anderson, S.C.

According to the Anderson Independent Mail, Anderson County Finance Committee Chairman Francis Crowder said the state-level incentives package for Michelin North America would go toward “infrastructure development” for the tire company.

According to the newspaper, Michelin is considering Anderson County as a potential site for two new projects that would amount to an investment of at least $550 million, and could be in the “$600 million to $1 billion” range if they are both built out as anticipated.

Reports of Michelin’s $550 million “Project Cougar” surfaced in early February. At that time, the newspaper quoted Interim county administrator Rusty Burns as saying, “This is still very much a competition. We are competing with others in South Carolina and on other shores.”

MNA already has a presence in Anderson County, with a rubber mixing and semi-finished goods plant in Sandy Springs, S.C., which employs an estimated 700 people. Sandy Springs and Starr, SC