Informer: Sasol says it is too soon to comment on project plans
Last Modified: Friday, August 10, 2012 6:38 PM
By Andrew Perzo / American Press
Sasol of Westlake announced its expansion project some time ago. I have noticed vacant homes and property along Houston River Road, where residents have been bought out by Sasol. I would like to know the following:
• How far west along Houston River Road is Sasol planning to build its plant?
• How many property owners have been bought out?
• How much is Sasol offering to buy out the homeowners?
• Does Sasol plan to buy out the homeowners between Evergreen Road and Independence Road in Westlake?
In response to the questions, a company official told The Informer that it’s too soon to comment on Sasol’s plans.
“While we are examining our options with regard to land that will support the company growth ambitions at our Lake Charles facility, the project decision has not yet been made,” Mike Hayes, a Sasol corporate affairs manager, wrote in an email.
“At this point we are not in a position to comment on possible land options. As the project progresses, more information will be available.”
Sasol last year announced that it would study the feasibility of building a gas-to-liquids complex, which would convert natural gas to a waxy solid and then into a series of liquid products, including diesel.
In a news release issued Sept. 13, 2011, company officials said the study would take 18 months and would examine two choices — a 2 million-ton-a-year plant or one that could produce 4 million tons of petroleum products.
They said the GTL project could create as many as 850 permanent jobs.
Gov. Bobby Jindal, in a news release of his own issued the same day, said salaries for those jobs would average $89,000 and that the project would involve a capital investment of up to $10 billion.
The governor’s office cited an industry-funded LSU study in saying that the expansion would plow $1.73 billion into the local economy during the five-year construction phase, along with creating 12,000 jobs, which would account for $577 million in personal earnings.
Two months later Sasol said it would also look into the feasibility of building an ethylene cracker complex at its local plant. The facility, with the ability to produce up to 1.4 million tons of ethylene a year, could cost as much as $4.5 billion, the company said.
That study will reportedly be completed during the first half of next year.
Online: www.sasolswla.com.
Recent jury service exemption grounds
My wife and I were wondering, how can you get off voter’s registration? Every time we turn around we get called for jury duty, but we haven’t voted since Edwards and Duke were running.
A spokesman for the Calcasieu Parish voter registrar’s office said residents can have their names removed from the rolls by submitting a note to that effect in person or by mail.
But doing so wouldn’t necessarily do anything to lessen the frequency of jury duty summonses — which, as The Informer has pointed out before, are based on a random selection of names pulled from the databases of both the voter registrar and the state Office of Motor Vehicles.
The silver lining: If you’ve served on a jury in the two years preceding a summons, you can claim an exemption from jury duty.
Incidentally, for those who don’t know or don’t remember, former Gov. Edwin Edwards, who recently got out of prison, defeated former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, at the time a state lawmaker, in a runoff election in 1991 to secure a fourth term as governor.
The Informer answers questions from readers each Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. It is researched and written by Andrew Perzo, an American Press staff writer. To ask a question, call 494-4098, press 5 and leave voice mail, or email informer@americanpress.com
Posted By: hasams On: 8/31/2012
Title: kill
Planning
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