Sainato said he has never seen the economy as bleak as it is now, but added when he spoke with Centaur people a week ago, he was assured the corporation is still interested and still committed to the project.

“I’m still cautiously optimistic, still comfortable with what they told me,” he said. “Nobody has said Centaur is considering pulling out. This could take a month or six months, but something is going to happen. Once the credit market unfreezes, we could see money become available.

“The problems are not just here, they’re worldwide,” Sainato said. “You can’t pull $8 trillion from the economy and not see effects. People are scared right now. They don’t want to spend money. But once good things begin to happen as a result of what the federal government and G-7 are doing, we could see some recovery in the credit market and there will be money out there to invest. Lawrence County is a good investment.”