Marty Durban, President and CEO of America's Natural Gas Alliance, Washington, D.C came to New Orleans and spoke before the Louisiana Chemical Association the week of 10/14/14 and wrote a letter to the editors that was published in the Times Picayune. Durban said the following in his letter. Natural Gas's role as a building block for the petrochemical industry which makes states such as Louisiana with abundant and affordable natural gas an ideal environment for investment in the industrial sector.
Those words are proof that state tax exemptions and tax breaks are not necessary for industrial investment and development in Louisiana. Louisiana has the affordable natural gas to fuel those plants and the necessary vacant land to build them and the ports to export their products. How many other states can offer that? Durban goes on in the letter to the editor and list several petrochemical plants that are in the works to be built in Louisiana because of the advantages listed above. Durban never mentioned any thing about tax breaks being a factor in those plants being located here although I feel sure he knows they exist.
What those unnecessary tax breaks are doing is giving away Louisiana's natural gas advantage and resources and what the natural gas and petrochemical industry will not openly tell the people is that there will be more natural gas and by products exported out of those plants than will be used in Louisiana. Why? Because they can export natural gas at triple the price in Louisiana. And one day Louisiana will be paying that same high price while the industry keeps enjoying their tax breaks.
The Free Enterprise System does not exist in America any more. It is the Special Interest System that does and it is driven by special interest and our political leaders.
This commentary written By John Lucia
