Latest news with #IndustrialTaxExemptionProgram
American Press
16-07-2025
- Business
- American Press
Louisiana launches High Impact Jobs Program focused on energy, advanced manufacturing
(Special to the American Press) A new state program designed to boost high-paying employment in Louisiana officially launched this month, offering grants to companies in sectors deemed critical to the state's economy — including energy and advanced manufacturing — while excluding industries like gaming, retail, and solar farms. Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Susan Bourgeois told The Center Square that the program has received four applicants so far. The High Impact Jobs Program, administered by Louisiana Economic Development, was created to provide performance-based grants to businesses that create full-time, benefits-eligible jobs paying above-average wages. To qualify, companies must meet wage thresholds based on regional or parish averages and operate in eligible industries. Bourgeois said the program emerged from a confluence of factors her department identified after she took office earlier this year. According to Bourgeois, there were two or three issues that 'seemed disparate' at first — the Industrial Tax Exemption Program changes under Governor Edwards, a 20-year-old Quality Jobs Program that had never been fully reimagined, and the lack of a modern strategic plan at the department. 'Where we've landed with all this is that they're not independent,' Bourgeois said, suggesting that HIP is meant to address all three issues. To participate in the new program, businesses must be located in Louisiana and approved by the LED secretary. Eligible projects must either create jobs in distressed areas with wages at least 110% of the lesser of the parish or regional average wage, create jobs in other areas with wages at least 125% of the parish average wage, or retain highly skilled workers with advanced degrees, if approved in advance by LED. Grants are reimbursable and based on the annualized wages of qualifying new jobs, capped at $2,000 per job, per year. The reimbursement rate depends on the wage level: 8% for jobs in distressed areas that meet the lower wage threshold, 18% for jobs that meet 125% to 150% of the parish average wage, and 22% for jobs that exceed 150% of the parish average wage. A separate grant is available to retain highly skilled workers with advanced degrees, subject to LED approval. Bourgeois emphasized that the new program is fiscally capped at $125 million annually, unlike the Quality Jobs Program, which was open-ended and dictated entirely by statute. 'That was a commitment we made to the Legislature — that our new proposal would be fiscally responsible while still allowing us to compete and win,' Bourgeois said. According to LED rules and program documents, energy and process industries — including liquefied natural gas services, nuclear components, and carbon ecosystem management — are explicitly listed among eligible sectors. Other targeted industries include manufacturing, logistics, aerospace and defense, biotechnology and medical device production, agribusiness, data centers and general management operations, and technology fields such as robotics, cybersecurity, and industrial software. LED may also approve projects aligned with its strategic plan, which is updated periodically. Bourgeois said that updating the department's strategic plan helped shape the direction of the program. 'We identified five North Stars for the department…one of those that's really fundamentally important is wage growth,' Bourgeois said. 'If Louisiana citizens aren't seeing rising wages to support their families, then are we really effective?' Some industries are expressly barred from participating. These include gaming, retail, solar farms, professional sports teams, local utilities such as water and sewer systems, solid waste disposal, legal and accounting services, call centers, and entertainment companies such as film, music, and live performance production. In the Quality Jobs program's final week, major companies including Shell, Exxon, Air Products, Dow, Meta, Hyundai, and Woodland filed applications before that program's sunset. Each of those companies 'has used the incentive in the past and built project plans around that economic formula,' Bourgeois said.
American Press
15-05-2025
- Business
- American Press
School Board approves ITEP for Lotte Chemical
Production at Lotte Chemical's ethylene glycol manufacturing plant in Westlake is underway. The plant is part of a $3.1 billion project, which also includes an ethylene cracker plant that will produce 1 million tons of ethylene per year. (Special to the American Press) The Calcasieu Parish School Board approved an Industrial Tax Exemption Program (ITEP) application for Lotte Chemical on Tuesday. Lotte Chemical, a Westlake facility that produces MonoEthylene Glycol, applied for a 10-year, 80 percent exemption for facility additions. Robert Wege of Summit Credits, representing Lotte Chemical, said the application is for the final phase of a wastewater treatment process that was installed at the facility, which included 'tanks, pumps, and valves.' He called the additions a 'direct investment' into the facility that 'do bring new revenue to the parish in the way of sales tax.' He also stated the abatements are not fully representative of the additions' value. The additions are representative of nearly $2 million in investments, according to application documents The total of forgone revenue for 10 years is $43,408 for CPSB, and $228,657 for all taxing bodies. The generated property tax revenue over 20 years is estimated to be $34,104 for CPSB. The project created two direct jobs with a payroll of $120,000. Renee Rule spoke at the meeting to represent the Calcasieu Association of Educators. While she believes that 'not all ITEPs are bad,' she called for the board to use discretion when approving applications, stating that the forgone property taxes ITEPs provide restrict CPSB's financial flexibility. 'When we provide ITEPs that are not beneficial to us, it limits our budget to what we can do now. We know that's true because we have, for several years, not been able to absorb the cost of rising insurance premiums to employers, while also not being able to afford raises. 'We have to consider what ITEP costs us. When we cannot pay educators, when we cannot fund education, we are not just hurting educators. We are not just hurting local educational agencies. We are hurting children,' she added later. Board member Dean Roberts, District 6, said the revenue created from the projects, despite abatements, will continue to provide the district opportunities 'unlike we've ever seen.' 'If you look at the big picture of industry and how it impacts Southwest Louisiana, whether you like it or not … we thrive off industry.' The application was approved with a split vote. 2018 ITEP Rules Gov. Jeff Landry signed an executive order last year that pulled back on ITEP requirements instituted under the administration of former Gov. John Bel Edwards and altered the ITEP application approval process. Instead of presenting ITEPs to several boards for approval, ITEPs submitted after the executive order are approved or denied by a consolidated board of representatives from each governing body in a parish, including the school board. But ITEPs for projects that began before the executive order are still subject to 2018 ITEP rules. Since the Lotte Chemical ITEP approved on Tuesday is for an expansion of an existing project, it has to be approved individually, said CPSB Chief Financial Officer Wilfred Bourne.
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
$4 Billion Investment to Help Build World's Largest Ammonia Facility in Louisiana
Ammonia producer CF Industries Holdings, Inc. and its partners announced an approximately $4 billion final investment decision to establish a low-carbon ammonia facility in Louisiana. The companies expect the new site at the RiverPlex MegaPark on the West Bank of Ascension Parish to be the largest facility of its kind in the world. The investment is a joint venture with Japanese energy company JERA Co., Inc. and global investment company Mitsui & Co., Inc. The companies expect the project to create 103 direct new permanent jobs with an average salary of $110,000. Louisiana Economic Development (LED) estimates the project will result in 311 indirect new jobs. Most Read on Texas Instruments Cuts Jobs After Getting $1.6B in CHIPS Funding Demand for Viral 'Torpedo' Baseball Bats Sends Pennsylvania Factory into Overdrive WATCH: Water Plant Workers Charged After Raw Sewage Leaks into Creek TYC Americas Onshoring Manufacturing Operations from China, Taiwan to Michigan CF Industries estimates that the facility will export approximately 1.4 million metric tons of low-carbon ammonia annually to international markets. The facility will use carbon reduction, carbon capture and sequestration technology, with carbon sequestered by Occidental subsidiary 1PointFive. The $4 billion project is the final investment decision for CF Industries' 2022 announcement that it would evaluate the site in Ascension Parish for the world-scale facility. To win the project, LED offered CF Industries a competitive incentives package that includes the comprehensive workforce development solutions of LED FastStart and a $6 million performance-based grant for project development and infrastructure expenditures. The company is also participating in the state's Industrial Tax Exemption Program and is expected to utilize the Quality Jobs program. Blue Point Number One, a joint venture between CF Industries, JERA and Mitsui & Co., also awarded a contract to Technip Energies to perform the engineering, procurement, equipment and module fabrication for the facility. The company will work with Topsoe to integrate its SynCOR Ammonia technology. Click here to subscribe to our daily newsletter featuring breaking manufacturing industry news. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
CF Industries, Japanese partners to build $4B ‘blue' ammonia plant in Ascension Parish
CF Industries existing ammonia and nitrogen facility in Donaldsonville (CF Industries photo) The world's largest 'blue' ammonia plant will be built in Ascension Parish and create more than 100 permanent jobs, Gov. Jeff Landry and the companies involved announced Tuesday. CF Industries, which has teased the project since 2023, revealed its funding partners that intend to move the development forward. CF Industries already operates the largest existing ammonia and nitrogen plant in Donaldsonville, where it has manufactured the main components of agricultural fertilizer since the early 1970s. Its new $4 billion facility will annually produce 1.4 million metric tons of blue ammonia, which is produced using carbon capture technology to store its greenhouse gas emissions. Tony Will, CF Industries president and CEO, said the new plant will supplement the existing ammonia production site that will also sequester the carbon dioxide it produces. The company ultimately plans to invest in green ammonia production, which uses only renewable power sources and is carbon neutral, he added. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX CF Industries is partnering on the project with JERA Co. Inc, a Japanese ammonia producer, and Mitsui & Co. Ltd., a Tokyo-based diversified trading and investment company. Yukio Kani, JERA's global chairman and CEO, said his company is investing $1.4 billion in what will be called the Blue Point Complex. JERA already does business with Louisiana's liquified natural gas export facilities, Kani added. Gov. Jeff Landry heralded Tuesday's news as another example of Louisiana 'winning' in the economic development realm. It comes on the heels of Hyundai's announcement late last month at the White House that it will build a $5.8 billion steel mill in Ascension Parish to support its U.S. auto manufacturing sites. 'We are living up to the promises we made when we started to focus on business and industries that built this state,' the governor said. The Blue Point Complex will be built near the Hyundai plant on the west bank of Ascension Parish, in the 17,000-plus-acre RiverPlex MegaPark north of Donaldsonville. Salaries will average $110,000 for the 103 permanent jobs the CF Industries plant will create, according to Louisiana Economic Development (LED). Construction of the facility will result in some 1,500 construction jobs, on top of the 5,000 for the Hyundai steel mill. The blue ammonia plant is expected to become operational by 2029, according to CF Industries. LED Secretary Susan Bourgeois confirmed area community and technical colleges will be tapped to train the workforce needed for the CF Industries and Hyundai projects, including their permanent hires. To lure the project to Louisiana, the state offered CF Industries a $6 million performance-based grant for the money it spends on project development and infrastructure. The company will also participate in the state's Industrial Tax Exemption Program, which provides a break on local property taxes, and is expected to use the Quality Jobs program that refunds payroll taxes for new positions created. The governor said CF Industries has reached an agreement to make an up front payment to Ascension Parish in lieu of paying property taxes. Terms of that PILOT arrangement weren't immediately available. Will said CF Industries chose the Donaldsonville site because of Louisiana's skilled workforce, strategic infrastructure, abundant natural resources and access to carbon capture capabilities. Asked what impact the Trump administration's far-reaching import tariffs might have on the project, Will said foreign components for the facility aren't expected to arrive in Louisiana for another three years. 'My hope is that between now and then progress has been made on the international trade front,' Will said. The Blue Point Complex is arguably the most significant development in the ammonia marketplace since the European Union put in place its Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism almost two years ago. The CBAM policy is intended to prevent so-called 'carbon leakage,' which happens when industry moves operations to a country with more lax environmental laws. The mechanism adds a cost to imported goods that accounts for their carbon emissions. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Wind energy holds promise for Louisiana if Landry ignores Trump bluster
President Donald Trump holds up an executive order after signing it during an indoor inauguration parade at Capital One Arena on Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by) We might not be Oklahoma, where I'm told the wind comes sweepin' down the plain, but Louisiana is poised to make a mark in the burgeoning offshore wind energy sector. It arguably already has. More than a decade ago, Gulf Island Fabricators in Houma built five jackets (think of the base of an offshore oil derrick, but for windmills) for the nation's first-ever commercial offshore wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island. The company leaned on its extensive background in deepwater oil and gas platform fabrication for the project, which Keystone Engineering of Metairie designed. As for offshore wind energy development in Louisiana waters, we're lagging behind other states for multiple reasons. For starters, the Gulf Coast simply isn't as windy when compared to the oceanfronts of Northern California and New England. Plus, the fossil fuel sector has been, and continues to be, the driving force in energy development. But change definitely is in the air based on conversations at Monday's meeting of the Louisiana House Committee on Natural Resources and Environment. Its members heard from renewable energy advocates and state officials on prospects for solar and wind development. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The discussion took place as President Donald Trump has brought to a stop all wind energy development for federal land and waters. His executive order, signed on Inauguration Day, resulted in a 60-day suspension of 'any onshore or offshore renewable energy authorization' that ends Friday. It's no secret Trump holds great disdain for wind energy and has spread disinformation to steer public opinion toward his side on the topic. Without anything resembling proof, he has blamed wind turbines for causing cancer and killing whales and argues they lower property values. To this point, Louisiana officials have not let the president's bluster steer their views on wind energy. Trump's order doesn't affect leases in state waters 3 miles off the coast, and there has been bipartisan support for state legislation to pave the way for offshore wind farms. Perhaps most notably, Louisiana lawmakers thwarted an effort in 2022 to keep solar and wind farm developers from taking part in the state's lucrative Industrial Tax Exemption Program. Maybe the most encouraging words from Monday's legislative hearing came from Blake Canfield, executive counsel for the Louisiana Department of Energy and Natural Resources. It's the closest thing we've heard to an endorsement for wind energy development from Gov. Jeff Landry's administration. 'We are known worldwide we're being an energy state and for having done many years of oil and gas activity,' Canfield told the committee. 'A lot of the technical expertise, manufacturing and other attributes that make us … very good at oil and gas, I think also can carry over to offshore wind.' Admittedly, the proliferation of wind energy development in Louisiana still faces significant obstacles. Chief among them is getting electrical utilities to link their transmission systems to the new offshore power sources — and who will pay for those connections. Still, it's encouraging to hear state lawmakers entertain the option of renewable energy sources. It's a conversation that needs to continue, especially as Louisiana residents and businesses see higher utility bills and lower reliability from a power supply largely dependent on fossil fuel generation SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
