Keep on ITEPing

Can't think of any reason we would want to re-think this activity.

Westlake Chemical plans to add more machinery to increase its volume of chlorine, vinyl chloride monomer, known as VCM, and used in production of polyvinyl chloride, which is PVC, a type of plastic often used in pipes.

There are three plants on the Geismar site. A chlor-alkali plant produces about 700 million pounds of chlorine and 770 million pounds of caustic soda each year. The VCM plant can produce 850 million pounds each year, while the PVC plant can produce about 730 million pounds of the product annually.

"Global demand for both PVC and caustic soda is expected to exceed the limited global capacity additions," according to the company's 2018 annual report.

Sure is expensive. 

In exchange, the company would be eligible for the Industrial Tax Exemption Program, which could offset 80% of its property taxes for up to 10 years. Westlake Chemical would need to obtain approval from the state and local leaders before the incentives would kick in.

The market value of real and personal property taxes for the company's Geismar site is nearly $600 million, according to the Ascension Parish Assessor’s office. The assessed value, or what the company will pay taxes based on, was about $89 million due to existing tax abatements, records show.

But we're all so pleased with the way this sort of thing has worked out thus far so, you know, carry on.

Update:  It's all part of staying in that top 10, baby!

But a Bloomberg Environment analysis of the U.S. EPA’s air toxic emissions data shows that the top 10 ethylene oxide emitters in the nation were actually chemical plants in Louisiana and Texas. Dow Inc.'s sprawling 2,000-plus-acre Union Carbide Corp. petrochemical complex in Louisiana’s St. Charles Parish topped the ranking, followed by Huntsman Corp.'s chemical plant in Port Neches, Texas, according to the 2014 data, the latest available.

That sounds bad but, really, we are working on it. Trust us.

The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality said it is working with the EPA to address concerns about ethylene oxide. At the same time, the agency is considering permits for Taiwan’s Formosa Plastics Corp. to build a $9.4 billion plastics complex in St. James Parish, which would be allowed to release up to 7 tons of ethylene oxide a year.

Many residents oppose the “Sunshine Project,” which would be a mile from an elementary school. St. James Parish is bordered to the north by Ascension Parish, home to petrochemical plants owned by BASF Corp. and Shell Chemical, which were the fifth-highest and ninth-highest emitters of ethylene oxide in the nation. Shell Chemical is the petrochemicals arm of Royal Dutch Shell Plc.

Gregory Langley, spokesman for Louisiana’s environmental quality department, said the state’s regulators sent letters and met with some facilities permitted to emit ethylene oxide in the state, to ask them to develop strategies to lower their emissions and make sure they report emissions accurately. Langley added that “LDEQ is early in the process but will continue to work with EO emitting facilities and EPA to develop a path forward.”

No, seriously, really, we've got our biggest guns on it just as soon as they, um, learn about the problem at all. Maybe they can read about it on the plane.

Louisiana Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R) said he was committed to “clean air” but acknowledged he was unaware of the problem caused by ethylene oxide. And Louisiana’s senior senator, Bill Cassidy (R), did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

On the House side, Louisiana’s lone Democratic lawmaker, Rep. Cedric Richmond, whose district includes the Union Carbide plant, brushed off questions about ethylene oxide, saying he was rushing to the airport. His office did not respond to subsequent questions.