Last week, when Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal was in Charlotte North Carolina, Steve Moret, the Secretary of Economic Development, was talking to Nucor who previously has stated that should it build a new plant, it would be in Louisiana or in a South American country such as Brazil. 

Nucor has indicated that market forces might reduce or possibly even eliminate the planned operations.   The company also indicated that federal environmental concerns could also impact any possible placement of the plant in the United States.
 Stephen Moret

In an email, Bayoubuzz questioned Moret about that environment issue:

Bayou Buzz: What is Nucor’s concern about President Obama’s proposed greenhouse-gas policy?

Stepen Moret: Global demand for iron/steel will be met one way or another so the Nucor facility or something like it will be built somewhere in the world (by Nucor or someone else).  If a facility like this is built in another country, it is very likely to have less stringent emission control equipment because environmental standards are lower in Brazil and many other countries versus the U.S.  If this facility is built in the U.S. by Nucor, it will be the most efficient, most environmentally friendly facility of its kind in the world – a facility utilizing “best available control technology” (BACT) as defined by the U.S. EPA.

There is a significant risk that adoption of a new industrial greenhouse-gas control policy by the U.S., without similar commitments from other countries, could hurt both our economy and global climate change because it could encourage large manufacturing operations to be developed in countries that have lower environmental standards than the U.S.

Remember that CO2 is a greenhouse gas in that it has an impact on global climate change, but it is a naturally occurring, non-toxic gas that does not pose a human health and welfare risk at ground level – that’s why CO2 currently is not a regulated pollutant at the state and national levels.  So creating greenhouse gas legislation in the U.S. without comparable standards in other countries could simply shift significant new manufacturing operations from the U.S. (and Louisiana) to elsewhere while not providing meaningful environmental benefits to Louisiana, the U.S., or the global community.  Quite the contrary, the environmental impact associated with the transplanted facilities likely would be worse because of the lower environmental standards held by other countries.

Nucor remains bullish on Louisiana and is still planning to proceed with this project in one location or another.  The state of the global economy could impact the timing somewhat, but we remain cautiously optimistic that Nucor will elect to move forward in the next few months…and that the company will do so in Louisiana.  Governor Jindal, LED, and St. James Parish leaders have put Louisiana in a position to win this exciting project, which will be one of the biggest projects in the country in 2009 if it proceeds.