LED Launches Call Center for Louisiana's Hurricane-Affected Businesses

BATON ROUGE - LED has established two tools for Louisiana's hurricane-affected businesses to acquire information about available business recovery assistance.

The LED Business Recovery Call Center was activated today to provide recovery-related resources and contacts for businesses requiring assistance in the aftermath of Hurricane Gustav. The call center is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, at 1-877-610-3LED (3533). Information on business' recovery needs will be collected from callers, and LED will send alerts on new programs and resources as they become available.

LouisianaForward.com has been updated with relevant business assistance links (FEMA, SBA). The information on the site, which also can be accessed at LouisianaForward.com/BizHelp, will be updated with new resources as they become available. Interested businesses can also sign up for email alerts about assistance available in the aftermath of Hurricane Gustav.

Gustav Tragedy

Mulate’s Restaurant in Breaux Bridge, LA will be closed for approximately 4 to 6 weeks due to extensive damage sustained from Hurricane Gastav.  Mulate’s restaurant opened in 1980 dedicated to the preservation of the traditional food, music and dancing of the Cajun people.  The family and staff of Mulate’s Restaurant would like to thank you for your patronage and your continued support.  We hope you will visit Mulate’s restaurant and bring your business cards to put up in the restaurant when Mulate’s Restaurant reopens.

RFP

The New Orleans Redevelopment Authority is further extending the September 8th deadline for responding to NORA’s Lower Ninth Ward Request for Proposals.

The time for responding to NORA’s RFP for Redevelopment Opportunities in the Lower Ninth Ward is hereby extended through and until Friday, September 19th, 2008 at 4 PM.  A copy of the Notice enlarging the time is attached to this email and has been posted on NORA’s website.  No other changes have been made to the RFP.

The Lower Ninth Ward RFP may be downloaded from NORA’s website, www.noraworks.org,

EPL

Energy Partners, Ltd. today provided an operational update regarding the impact of Hurricane Gustav on its production operations, including its preliminary damage assessment. The Company also commented on its preparations for Hurricane Ike.

EPL safely evacuated all offshore personnel and shut in all production prior to the arrival of Hurricane Gustav. The Company has completed an initial assessment of damage to its operated platforms following the hurricane. Indications are that the majority of EPL’s facilities, which are located in the central Gulf of Mexico (“GOM”), have suffered, at most, minor damage such as missing handrails, grating, navigational aids and instrumentation panels.

In the Company’s South Timbalier area, most producing wells, platforms and facilities sustained minimal or no damage, including the South Timbalier (“ST”) 46 field which was brought back on line this past weekend. The storm did cause physical damage to the ST 41 A and ST 26 G platforms and to one EPL-owned gas sales pipeline departing ST 26, but the damage at this point is believed to be repairable. The Company has secured the necessary equipment and supplies to undertake these repairs.

The Company’s initial fly-over and subsequent physical inspections in its East Bay field have so far indicated only minor repairs are needed to certain structures and pipelines in the field to enable production to resume. The necessary repairs began this past weekend. Minimal impact to EPL’s western GOM area has been reported, and most of the Company’s production from its operated fields in this area has been restored. Production in the Western area began ramping up last Friday.

EPL maintains insurance coverage for property damage due to windstorms with a per-storm deductible of $10 million. At this time, the Company believes that the repair costs associated with Hurricane Gustav related damage to EPL properties will be less than this deductible. EPL also maintains business interruption insurance on its ST 41, 42 and 46 properties, although the Company at this time does not anticipate making a claim as repairs are expected to be completed during the no claim period provided for under the policy.

Further efforts to resume production in the Company’s fields will continue as conditions allow, which is in many cases awaiting acceptance of production by third party pipelines and processing facilities. The Company is monitoring Hurricane Ike in anticipation of its arrival in the GOM this week. Preparations to secure platforms, facilities and equipment in or near the storm’s projected path are underway.

Founded in 1998, EPL is an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Company’s operations are focused along the U. S. Gulf Coast, both onshore in south Louisiana and offshore in the Gulf of Mexico.

Need Money?

The Receivables Exchange (www.receivablesXchange.com), the world’s first online marketplace for real-time trading of accounts receivable, today announced that its Charter Member program has surpassed more than $1 billion in accounts receivable turnover since commencing its sales initiatives four months ago.

“The Receivables Exchange was founded on the fundamental belief that America’s small and mid-sized businesses should have better access to working capital,” said Justin Brownhill, co-founder and chief executive officer of The Receivables Exchange. “In today’s credit crisis, we’re hearing from CFOs and CEOs across the country that the need has never been greater for them to identify alternative funding sources to reinvest into their businesses in order to maintain their success.”

Companies of all sizes - from under $10 million to over $150 million - have been signing up to use their receivables to accelerate cash flow. Members span a diverse range of industries, including manufacturing, technology, transportation, distribution and staffing - all realizing the strategic advantage of turning their accounts receivable into working capital, particularly in today’s troubling credit crunch.

“As a small business owner, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to increase credit lines to take advantage of growth opportunities,” said Lee Pritchard, chief executive officer of Renter Magnet Acquisition, LLC, a leading provider of rental solutions in the Atlanta metropolitan area. “The Receivables Exchange allows businesses to increase liquidity by providing access to competitively priced capital and the flexibility and control to utilize it as often or as seldom as needed. It’s a perfect working capital solution.”

“The fact that so many businesses have signed up in such a short period of time reinforces that we are delivering a tremendous new working capital management solution that is very appealing to the CFOs and CEOs of these growing companies to help them to continue to thrive,” added Brownhill.

For America’s small to mid-sized businesses, the single largest source of working capital is often tied up in outstanding invoices, with the average turnover of these receivables being approximately 44 days. This means that most of these businesses wait over a month and a half before collecting cash owed to them by their customers - essentially extending them a free loan that they could otherwise reinvest into growing their companies. In the United States, there is more than $25 trillion in accounts receivable annual turnover; yet less than one percent of that volume is currently being financed. The Receivables Exchange’s patent-pending online marketplace brings together a global network of accredited capital providers with millions of America’s growth-oriented small and mid-sized businesses in search of capital to help them grow.

Agriculture

Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Mike Strain, D.V.M., said Hurricane Gustav dumped more than 20 inches of rain on farmers across the state and damaged vital infrastructure.

Strain embarked on a tour of the rain-soaked agricultural areas over the weekend with visits to Paincourtville, White Castle, Winnsboro, Gilbert and Bunkie.

Strain is meeting with farmers on Monday afternoon at the Thomas Lingo Assembly Center in Oak Grove at noon and Goldman Equipment in Mer Rouge at 3 p.m.

On Tuesday Strain will speak with agricultural producers in Ferriday at the Highway 15 Community Center and Goldman Equipment in Lake Providence at 2:30 pm.

Strain is planning on visiting Evangeline and Pointe Coupee parishes on Wednesday but that trip may be delayed by concerns over Hurricane Ike.

"The winds knocked down much of the corn and rice that had not been harvested," Strain said. "Cotton, soybeans, sweet potatoes and pecans also took major damage. Every crop will suffer major loss"

Strain told the gathered farmers that he and the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry is doing everything it can to expedite repair of electrical service and other infrastructure.

"We're here to help and we want to help," Strain said. "We've provided thousands of gallons of fuel directly to farmers and processors and gotten the power companies to get the grain elevators and driers running."

Strain said he has been in constant contact with United State Department of Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer and briefed President Bush on agricultural damages caused by the hurricane.

"We're urging USDA Secretary Schafer to closely monitor the sugar cane situation and wait to make any decisions about sugar quotas until after a full crop assessment is made," Strain said.

Strain added that he will seek a federal disaster declaration for agriculture.

"I'm positive that's going to happen," Strain said.

Strain also said that direct federal disaster payments to farmers are a possibility.

The standing water in agricultural fields will hinder the remaining harvest, Strain said.

"I've been told that this is the worst late season flooding that anyone can remember," Strain said.

Strain said the sweet potato crop most likely suffered a 50 percent loss at a minimum and cotton will suffer a 30 to 50 percent loss in some areas.

(Press Release)

Blue Roof

For information on the blue roof program, please call:  1-888-766-3258