Chemical production in southwest Louisiana halted due to lack of power, workers

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Severe hurricane damage to southwest Louisiana has halted chemical manufacturing there. Louisiana Chemical Association President Greg Bowser says they were spared the anticipated 15 feet of storm surge, but the category four winds did a number on their facilities.

“Within some of the chemical plants they saw a lot of damage to their cooling towers which is not surprising because you get a lot of that damage when you have very high wind,” says Bowser.

The Lake Charles Liquified Natural Gas import terminal is one of the nation’s few LNG terminals.

Bowser says power is the biggest immediate concern, but so is the fact that many of their workers have been scattered across the region.

“They have a number of employees that evacuated so you have people that are living in Houston, parts of Texas, New Orleans, and Baton Rouge,” says Bowser.

Bowser says it is likely plants will get power ahead of the four-week timetable for residential areas.

Bowser says some workers are looking at long commutes once plants are online, but that’s not feasible for everyone so they’re pushing to get temporary FEMA housing for workers.

“We’ll see if we can’t assist with accelerating that process for some of the employees so they can have a place to stay while they are working as well as getting their houses repaired,” says Bowser.