Sale May Save Jobs of Some DOE Workers

Some Department of Energy employees in Oxnard may not lose their jobs now that the department agreed in principle Thursday to sell an Oxnard manufacturing unit to a private firm.

For about 10 years, 50 employees have worked at the 14-acre site in Oxnard, forging metal parts shipped to the department’s Rocky Flats facility for various defense uses.

The Department of Energy had planned to simply close the plant and lay off the workers. But a Ventura firm that manufactures aircraft parts has offered to buy the site and seven buildings.

Officials have not agreed on a final purchase price, but a department statement issued Thursday said the deal would result in a multimillion-dollar return to the federal government.

Steve Kinney of Oxnard’s Economic Development Corp. said HST Inc. of Ventura will attempt to hire 12 to 18 workers for mechanic, metal working and other jobs.

“It means that we are able to sustain business activity at the site,” Kinney said. “We are able to provide a company that can hire at least a dozen or so of the current workers. At this point, the choice was between that or the DOE shutting the whole facility down and padlocking it.”