Over $1B Investment Planned for Capital Region’s Manufacturing Industry

By Eliza Theiss, Associate Editor

The Dow Chemical Company has officially confirmed the locations of it future expansions and investments as Plaquemine, Louisiana and Freeport, Texas. Originally announced in March 2013, construction is expected to begin soon at both sites.

Governor Bobby Jindal and Dow Louisiana Operations Site Leader Eduardo Do Val also made the announcement, focusing on Dow’s Louisiana investments, worth $1.06 billion. The investment will be made at Dow’s Plaquemine site, located in the Baton Rouge metropolitan area. The company currently occupies 3,300 acres at the Plaquemine location and part of the investment will include capital upgrades planned for the company’s existing operation. Two new plants will also be constructed onsite: one will manufacture high-performance polyethylene and another is set to produce next-generation synthetic rubber. The investment will retain all 1,380 workers employed at the site and add 71 direct new jobs with wages averaging a yearly $49,000 plus benefits. Louisiana Economic Development (LED) also estimates the creation of 150 contractor jobs to support the future facilities, as well 1,200 construction jobs and 470 indirect workplaces. Development is expected to be completed in late 2016; however, most jobs will be filled in 2015.

LED began negotiations with the New York Stock Exchange-listed company in February of this year. Incentives provided for the petrochemical company helped secure the project and include a $2.84 million Modernization Tax-Credit spread over five years as well as the LED FastStart access—a state program that provides, free of cost, a trained and highly qualified and customized workforce on the first day of operations. Dow will most likely also access Louisiana’s Quality Jobs and Industrial Tax Exemption programs.

Dow is Louisiana’s largest petrochemical company and provides employment for 6,000 people including direct Dow employees, as well as contractors. The company shares a direct annual payroll of $312 million and has an estimated $1 billion yearly economic impact on the State of Louisiana. It has six locations throughout the Pelican State: Plaquemine, Grand Bayou, Greensburg, Hahnville, Sterlington and Weeks Island.

Louisiana’s transportation infrastructure includes six interstate highways, six Class 1 railroads and one of the largest ports in the world—the Port of New Orleans. The state also offers low electricity rates due to an abundance of natural gas as well as a multitude of state and local/municipal tax incentives which amount to the lowest business taxes in the US. According to LED-cited KPMG assessments, these factors have made the Bayou State one the most attractive locations for manufacturing jobs.

Image courtesy of Governor Bobby Jindal’s Facebook page