Jindal's Gambles with Taxpayers' Money

In December 2013, Bobby Jindal announced that the Nucor Corporation had decided to build a pig iron plant in Convent, St. James Parish.  His folks set up a big photo op during which Jindal bragged, “Today, we can proudly point to an industrial accomplishment in Louisiana that is without peer, and we look forward to working with Nucor on future phases as we demonstrate that there’s no better place to invest and create jobs than Louisiana, just as there’s no better place to live, work and raise a family than Louisiana. Nucor’s investment in Louisiana is one of the reasons we have more people working and living with higher incomes than ever in our state.”

I find Jindal’s remark about “Nucor’s Investment” quite amusing because what Bobby failed to inform the public was that in order to get the company to settle here the following monetary investments by Louisiana taxpayers were given to the company:

1.      For the first phase of the iron plant, the state pledged $30 million in cash that were provided through capital outlay funds.

2.     A $30 million loan through the parish that would be converted into a state-paid grant.  Not really a loan, if the state is paying!

3.     Another $160 million in grants spread over six years for the remaining phases of the project.

4.     State grants that compensated Nucor for its $60 million purchase of the 4,000-acre site.

However, the state incentives for this plant weren’t only of a monetary nature.  Louisiana’s air pollution standards were also modified. The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality issued a special permit which allowed for significant increases in emissions for ammonia and naphthalene, both known toxins.  Additionally wastewater provisions were modified and rewritten specifically for the plant.

So what kind of returns is this investment affording for our great state?

Last Friday, Nucor Corp reported an operating loss at its new iron plant in St. James Parish which presently employs about 150 people.

Perhaps Bobby and his legislative cohorts can just ante up some more of our tax payers’ money and bail them out.  After all, it would look pretty bad on his national resume if one of his most bragged about ventures went bottoms up.

Next time you find yourself unable to get medical treatment or enroll in a course at a local university, just pause and be happy knowing that those funds  were put to good use to provide 150 jobs in a currently money losing, environmentally polluting, enterprise in St. James Parish.

And what is the status of the returns on other business incentives Jindal and our legislators have handed out, to quote, “stimulate economic growth in our state?”

We sure are lucky to have a Rhodes Scholar as king of Louisiana.