News From the Docks. Volume 16, No. 11 November Association of Louisiana

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1 Volume 16, No. 11 November 2015 Association of Louisiana News From the Docks Pictured: Port of Delcambre docks & Farmer s Market Photo Credit: Louisiana Sea Grant

2 additional TTF funds. News From the PAL Office I would like to remind all Corporate members to please send in your high resolution photos if you would like to be featured in the upcoming newsletters. This is a chance for you to showcase your facility and everything you have to offer. I hope you all will take advantage of this opportunity! Please send photos to Candaceatpal@gmail.com Candace L. Griffin Association Manager Legislative Update Port Priority Program The draft PPP for is currently under development, and is comprised of 17 continuing projects and 1 new project. The estimated Total Project Costs are $450 million, of which $262.5 million is construction costs, with Ports providing $141.2 million and the balance of $121.3 is the state share. When completed the projects should create and maintain 2,185 jobs, with $1.1 billion of economic benefits. Act 380 by Representative Terry Landry, limiting the State Police appropriations from the Transportation Trust Fund for traffic control to not more than $25 million in and thereafter $10 million each fiscal year, may free up $71 million of Transportation Trust Funds for infrastructure. The PAL Executive Committee has requested that Secretary Sherri LeBas consider increased funding for the PPP from the Elections October 24, 2015 Constitutional Amendment 1 failed to pass, 47.49% for, against PAL endorsed the passage of Amendment 1. This amendment provided for the reorganization of the Budget Stabilization Trust Fund, limiting deposits of excess mineral revenues to not more than $500, thereafter up to $500 million of additional excess mineral revenues would be deposited to a Transportation Stabilization Trust Fund with not less than 20% to be budgeted for LA Intermodal Connector Program. PAL also endorsed the passage of Constitutional Amendment 2, which passed 52.86% for, 47.14% against. This amendment authorizes the LA Treasurer to invest surplus state funds in the Infrastructure Bank created by the 2015 Legislature. The Infrastructure Bank is authorized to lend money to LA Political subdivisions for Infrastructure construction. Legislature The results of the elections indicate that the overwhelming majority of the current members of the Legislature will return to serve the term. Senate 0f the 39 Senators, 19 were elected without opposition, and 17 additional Senators were elected, and 3 will face a runoff. All incumbent Senators who qualified were re-elected and 2 former House members were elected Senators. The 3 members of the Senate Transportation committee seeking re-election have been elected. Representatives Of the 105 Representatives, 48 were elected without opposition, an additional 44 were elected and 13 will face a runoff. Of the incumbent Representatives, 3 were defeated and 6 are in runoffs. 14 members of the House Transportation Committee were re-elected, and 2 are in runoffs. The Organizational Session of the Legislature will convene at 10 am Monday, January 11, 2016, for a maximum of 3 days at which the President and President Pro-Temp of the Senate, and Speaker and Speaker Pro-Temp will be elected.

3 The Regular Session of the Legislature will convene at noon on Monday, March 14, 2014, for 60 legislative days within an 85 day calendar day session. The session will be General in nature, and no measure authorizing a new state tax, increasing a tax, or with regards to tax exemption, exclusions, deductions or credits shall be introduced. However, revenue measures may be considered in a special session called for that purpose. Louisiana Freight Mobility Plan In 2012, Congress passed legislation encouraging state departments of transportation to develop a comprehensive freight transportation plan. The Ports and Waterways Advisory Council participated in the development of the LA DOTD Plan. The final draft of the 25-year Louisiana Freight Mobility Plan can be found at: The plan estimates that LA will require $79 billion in projects, with $7.5 billion of Port/Waterways projects. Coastal Ports Advisory Authority Act 180 of the 2013 Legislature created the Coastal Ports Advisory Authority, which included representatives from all coastal and deep water ports as well as PAL. Scott Angelle is Chairman and Roy Pontiff is Vice Chairman. Among several objectives listed are: research the development opportunities available to LA Ports and maritime industry, infrastructure requirements, channel deepening and maintenance, and possible incentives to develop public and private partnerships. Research will be conducted by LA Transportation Center relative to dredging channels. Mac Wade, Executive Director of the Port of Morgan City and Rudy Simoneaux of CPRA have agreed to be on the research oversight team. Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority The CPRA voted on October 21, 2015 to recommend to advance to engineering and design both the Mid- Barataria (75,000 cfs) and Mid Breton (35,000 cfs) sediment diversions on the lower Mississippi River. The approval followed multiple stakeholder meetings, including Ports and Waterways Advisory Group which expressed its concerns that the locations and design of the diversion projects not impair navigation. The funding for the engineering of the diversion projects will be included in the CPRA Annual Plan that will be recommended to the 2016 LA Legislature. The Annual Plan also includes preliminary designs for preventing salt water intrusions into the Calcasieu channel. The CPRA, America s Wetland Foundation, and the Restore the Mississippi River Delta Coalition and LA 1 Coalition also reached an understanding to cooperate and support the future efforts of LA 1 Coalition to secure funding from the GOMESA (Gulf of Mexico Energy Security ACt) revenues. The federal and state laws would allow up to 10% of GOMESA revenues to be utilized for infrastructure. The compromise averted a disagreement relative to the LA 1 Coalition proposal to use Restore Act funds, which are anticipated to be received by Louisiana, for a purpose other than coastal restoration, for the completion of the LA 1 highway to Port Fourchon. (Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States of 2012) Joe Accardo Executive Director 325 Belle Terre Blvd, Suite A Laplace, La (cell) (office)

4 Corporate Member News Port Fourchon water mixture. The water is able to seep through and escape the mesh, leaving only extremely hard-packed sand behind in the tube and creating a solid barrier, which is then covered with more sand and vegetation. The geotube project provides significant and lasting benefits to the natural environment, protecting the fragile back barrier marsh and beach headland along Fourchon Beach. The beach at Fourchon offers critical hurricane and storm surge protection to Port Fourchon and the Gulf s critical energy infrastructure in the region. While it s great to build this beach and dune back, we understood that the project wouldn t be able to last long in that environment without plants to help hold it together. That s when we approached Nicholls State University about helping us to protect this investment with a series of plantings, and we are very grateful that they have done so much to help us keep our beach intact, said Chett Chiasson, Executive Director of the Greater Lafourche Port Commission. At its regular board meeting, the Greater Lafourche Port Commission showcased its latest national award for environmental restoration and recognized Nicholls State University as a valuable partner on the awardwinning project. The Port Commission was awarded the 2015 Environmental Enhancement Award by the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) for its Beach and Dune Restoration Geotube Project, which restored approximately one mile of beach and dune habitat at Port Fourchon. Fourchon Beach is the first line of defense for Port Fourchon, which services over 90 percent of all deep-water Gulf of Mexico oil and gas production, accounting for approximately 20 percent of the nation s energy supply. The Fourchon Beach area sustained extensive damage from Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav and Isaac. The Port Commission s project restored approximately one mile of this critical beach and dune habitat by utilizing over 250,000 cubic yards of sand to fill and cover a 30-foot diameter geotube. Geotubes are large fabric mesh tubes pumped full of a sand and To date, Nicholls State University s Department of Biological Sciences has planted over 16,500 stems of bitter panicum, a salt-tolerant beach grass perfectly suited to beach conditions. NSU biology students and faculty grow thousands of such wetland plants at the university s farm in Thibodaux for applied research like this project. Having an environmentally conscious organization like the Greater Lafourche Port Commission collaborate with Nicholls students on service-learning opportunities encourages them to connect with their community and gain a firsthand understanding of the impact they can make as future biologists, said Nicholls President Bruce Murphy. Nicholls is very proud of its biology faculty and students for becoming leaders in preserving and protecting Louisiana s vulnerable coastline. This is not the first environmental award for Port Fourchon. Previous awards recognizing GLPC s environmental stewardship and restoration works include an Honorable Mention for this same AAPA Environmental Enhancement award in 2006, a 2nd place EPA Gulf Guardian award in 2006, and a Coastal Stewardship Award by the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana in 2014.

5 We have always understood that the more we can do to protect the coast, the more we are really protecting our port, our community, and our environment. Projects like this one, and the awards they win are not possible without great partners like Nicholls State, said Perry Gisclair, GLPC Board President. Port of Lake Charles New Economic Impact Study Positions Calcasieu Ship Channel As Leading Economic Driver A study released by the Lake Charles Harbor and Terminal District dramatically underscores the far-reaching economic impact of a single physical feature the Calcasieu Ship Channel on the Lake Charles region, the state of Louisiana and the nation. The study, titled Economic and Fiscal Impacts of the Calcasieu Ship Channel, concludes that the health of almost half of the Lake Charles metro economy depends on the health of the channel. For instance, nearly one third of jobs in the Lake Charles metro area are tied to the channel and the port authority; maritime commerce accounts for 46 percent of the Lake Charles economy s total $14.8 billion of business activity. The document demonstrates to stakeholders just how vital this waterway is to Southwest Louisiana. The fact that we are a port city has brought tremendous economic benefits to our area, said Bill Rase, executive director of the Lake Charles Harbor and Terminal District. And the study gives us a preview of how our economy will benefit from the $80+ billion in capital investments announced for the area 80 percent of which is being made because of the Calcasieu Ship Channel. The Calcasieu Ship Channel was engineered in the 1920s, 30s and 40s to straighten, widen and deepen the Calcasieu River from Lake Charles to the Gulf of Mexico, making Lake Charles a deep-water port, although it is 34 miles inland. The ship channel became a highway for the delivery of goods, both inbound and outbound, and dozens of companies built facilities on the channel to produce, process, send or receive those goods. All that channel activity, the report concludes, is a major driving factor in the economy of the region, the state and the nation. Some key findings of the study (figures are for 2014): The ship channel is responsible for nearly 36,000 direct, indirect and induced jobs in the area, or 31 percent of the total employment in the Lake Charles metro area, and 50 percent of local tax revenue is generated from industrial production or maritime services tied directly to the ship channel. Over 80 percent of the manufacturing employment in Lake Charles is strongly tied to waterway-dependent industries. Some 46 percent of the GDP in Lake Charles directly depends on the ship channel for either raw material receipt or for the shipment of finished product. An additional $1 billion of earnings and $1.3 billion of personal income is generated outside of the Lake Charles economy from the ship channel s production and services. Industries relying on the ship channel produce nearly 13,000 additional jobs outside of the local economy. The total number of jobs in Louisiana generated by the ship channel is nearly 50,000 jobs or almost 2 percent of the state s workforce. The ship channel and associated industrial production contributed $916 million in federal taxes in 2014; that figure is expected to rise to $1.3 billion in These impacts will grow tremendously in the next several years as the regional economic boom continues to materialize. If the proposed 19 industrial projects tied to the ship channel are completed and operational in 2023, the study states that the region will see a 25 percent increase in channel-dependent jobs, a 78 percent expansion in channel-dependent GDP and more than double the local tax revenues generated from channel dependent companies.

6 We re happy to see that so many people from plant operators to retail store clerks to construction workers have jobs because of the ship channel and its maritime activity, said Barbara McManus, president of the Port of Lake Charles Board of Commissioners. This is why the Port Authority works so hard to protect and maintain the channel it truly carries the lifeblood of our area. This economic impact study was conducted by CSRS and Taimerica Management Co. The findings will provide the data the Port Authority needs to continue lobbying efforts at the local, regional, state and federal levels to secure adequate funding for channel operations and maintenance, Rase said. To view a copy of the study please visit Port of South Louisiana more than $60,000, plus benefits. Louisiana Economic Development estimates the project will result in an additional 81 new indirect jobs, for a total of more than 150 jobs in the Southeast Region and surrounding areas. The company estimates the project will generate 250 additional construction jobs. Governor Jindal said, All across Louisiana, opportunities continue to arise for those willing to invest in a brighter economic future. Pin Oak Terminals will be a welcome addition to our energy corridor, offering storage, delivery and other services to industrial customers throughout the region. This $600 million project will bring quality jobs to the River Parishes and Southeast Louisiana. We are happy to see developments here that create meaningful employment opportunities for our citizens and demonstrate yet again that Louisiana is great place to live and work. Facility services planned by Pin Oak include offloading, storage, heating, blending and transfer of petroleum liquids. The company is permitted to construct up to 10 million barrels of storage and unit train loops on its 431-acre site, which is situated for convenient shipping of products by rail, pipeline, barge, ship and truck. Governor Jindal and Pin Oak Terminals CEO Mike Reed Announce $600 Million Petroleum Liquids Storage Terminal in St. John the Baptist Parish Governor Bobby Jindal and CEO Mike Reed of Pin Oak Terminals recently announced that the company plans to make a $600 million capital investment in St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana, where the company will build a petroleum liquids storage terminal. The facility will be located along the east bank of the Mississippi River at Mount Airy, near the St. John/St James parish line. The terminal project will create 70 new on-site jobs encompassing full-time company and contractor jobs. Those new jobs will have an average annual salary of We were very excited to start Pin Oak Terminals in Louisiana and look forward to expanding our footprint with this new storage terminal facility in St. John the Baptist Parish, Reed said. The terminal will bring new jobs and economic activity to the community and we are enthusiastic about being a longstanding partner with the Port of South Louisiana, the State of Louisiana, and St. John the Baptist Parish. We plan to grow the facility over time and work with our partners to continue on past successes. The community is vital to us and we intend to remain a mainstay for many years to come. Our focus on growth is centered on superior customer service, safety-first work habits, and uncompromising environmental awareness. LED began discussing a potential project with the company in October In conjunction with the terminal project, the company is expected to utilize Louisiana s Quality Jobs Program. The company considered sites elsewhere in the Gulf South before choosing to build its facility in Louisiana. Construction is expected to begin this year, and

7 operations are expected to begin in late The commitment today by Pin Oak Terminals to construct a tank facility for receiving, blending and storing of various liquid products will be a tremendous asset to the Port of South Louisiana, port Executive Director Paul Aucoin said. The company has plans to significantly expand Phase 1 of its operations over the next five years into a world-class facility at the Mount Airy location. We couldn t be more pleased today to welcome Pin Oak Terminals to the Port of South Louisiana and we will remain committed to work in tandem to see this project realized. This project is coming to fruition and this groundbreaking symbolizes the beginning of a longterm relationship between Pin Oak Terminals and the parish, St. John the Baptist Parish President Natalie Robottom said. Through persistence and commitment to this project, company representatives have worked closely with parish officials and community members on the Community Action Panel. There is also a commitment to hiring local contractors and employees, which will enhance economic development and offer good-paying jobs to our residents. We welcome Pin Oak Terminals and stand ready to assist them in making this project a reality. many facilities and ports across Louisiana, including the Port of New Orleans, the Port of South Louisiana, the Port of Greater Baton Rouge, the Port of Lake Charles, the Port of Lake Providence, and the Port of Vidalia. Additionally, River Consulting is an active member of the Ports Association of Louisiana, the Inland River Ports and Terminals Association, and the Mississippi Valley Trade and Transport Council. This effort will be led out of the Metairie office, with close proximity to the Port s Administration Office and will allow staff to respond immediately to onsite meetings and other needs of the Board. The Metairie office staff has a combined total of 113 years of extensive experience in various marine and dock facility maintenance, repair and construction. We re honored to be chosen by the Port of New Orleans as one of the engineering firms they will call upon for emergency support, stated Bob Klare, director of operations for the Metairie office. Having been founded in New Orleans to serve river ports and facilities, this award is a great testament of our expertise and commitment to continue to serve local clients such as the Port of New Orleans. Knowing that one of the largest ports in the world trusts us to respond when they re in need, is a reflection of the strength and experience of our professional engineering staff. Associate Member News The Race is On! River Consulting Lands Professional Services Contract with Port of New Orleans River Consulting, LLC, a consulting engineering firm, has been chosen as one of four firms to provide as-needed emergency damage assessment and engineering services to the Port of New Orleans. River Consulting will respond to the Port of New Orleans when they may need assessments and repairs in the aftermath of a catastrophic event such as a hurricane, fire flood, vessel collision or other similar event. With more than three decades of experience, River Consulting has completed projects successfully for By: Lauren Etter Bloomberg News TheMonitor.com November 9, 2015 States Dig into Thier Wallets in a Race to Deepen US Ports

8 Tired of waiting for Congress, states racing to deepen seaports before the opening of the enlarged Panama Canal next year are picking up the cost of what has traditionally been a federal duty. With funding for coastal navigation channels at its lowest in a decade, port directors worry that the federal government is abandoning construction and maintenance of U.S. waterways just as builders churn out a new generation of huge container vessels. The so-called post-panamax class carries loads twice the size of current ships and demand ever-deeper harbors. At least four ports in Florida, Georgia and Texas have decided to foot the bill to deepen federal waterways, a total of almost half a billion dollars, rather than wait years for funds. To berth post-panamax ships, ports typically need 50 feet of depth there are only four on the U.S. East Coast. Smaller facilities are looking for an edge to gain a bigger piece of the $4.6 trillion in economic activity generated at U.S. ports last year, a quarter of the gross domestic product. The federal government is just funding constrained, Walker said. They re very focused on the deficit and trying to reduce federal spending. The states just see the need to get these investments completed. The reason is the end of the Panamax standard, which was adopted in 1985 to accommodate the dimensions of the Panama Canal. Panamax ships can fit through the original width of the locks. PostPanamax ships are wider, and require ports at least 43 feet deep. New generations are even bigger and require depths of 50 feet or more. In September, Florida s PortMiami finished dredging its waters to 52 feet, making it the deepest south of Virginia and positioning it as one of the first calls for post-panamax ships. The $220 million project was funded by state and local dollars after delays in Congress led Republican Gov. Rick Scott to say Florida would foot the federal government s $77 million share and seek reimbursement later. Efficiency s the name of the game, said John E. Walsh, chief executive officer of the Canaveral Port Authority in Cape Canaveral, Florida, which is funding a deepening project with state and local money. You will either be a port that can be a stop or you re not. We re still hopeful that we can go back to the federal government and have them reimburse the port, said Juan Kuryla, director of PortMiami, which is only the nation s 14th largest by volume of container traffic. What is the likelihood of that? We have to wait and see. For more than a century, the U.S. government has been responsible for maintaining navigable waterways, with Congress traditionally authorizing projects overseen by the Army Corps of Engineers and appropriating funds. In recent years, Congress has been at a partisan stalemate over everything from the Export-Import Bank, temporarily shut down in July after lawmakers failed to renew its charter, to highway funding, which has been largely sustained with short-term, last-minute measures. At Port Canaveral, 200 miles north of Miami, container traffic is small compared with its Eastern seaboard brethren, but it has big plans to deepen its waters. Canaveral gets 80 percent of its revenue from cruises. It ranks only 49th in container volume. Federal lawmakers have been similarly slow to approve port work and even slower to appropriate money. President Barack Obama s fiscal 2016 budget request for the Army Corps coastal navigationchannel construction program was $81 million, the least in over a decade, according to Jim Walker, director of navigation policy and legislation at the Virginia-based American Association of Port Authorities. There was no money available in Washington, said Walsh. The likelihood of Port Canaveral getting it it s sort of like when you re the last child of six and your older brother isn t getting a cellphone. Your chance of getting a cellphone is pretty slim. The port had planned to apply for federal funding, but quickly realized that it had little chance of securing any in a timely fashion due to its relatively small size and economic insignificance. Georgia Ports Authority has been working for more than a decade on a $700 million harbor deepening along the Savannah River. The state advanced its

9 entire $266 million share, a cost that normally would have been distributed over several years if federal dollars had been at hand. Now, port officials await federal money to maintain dredging already under way. Federal dollars have been hard to come by, and lean, said Curtis Foltz, executive director of Georgia Ports Authority. Not all ports are ready to let the U.S. government off the hook. The Port of Corpus Christi in Texas is trying to keep pace with increased activity related to manufacturing and energy production, and has gotten approval from Congress to deepen its port to 52 feet. Even though the appropriations from Congress have yet to materialize, the port s executive director says he has no other choice but to wait for federal money on a project that will cost more than $300 million. Site Selection magazine is a welcome validation of our efforts. From the outset, we have stressed important changes to the way we do business in Louisiana cutting taxes, revamping workforce training and reforming our governmental ethics laws. The results speak for themselves: Today, Louisiana is a leader in helping businesses and industries expand within our state, relocate to our state, invest in Louisiana and create jobs here for current and future generations. We have cultivated an ideal business climate for advanced manufacturing, software development, energy, aerospace and other industries to invest and create more quality jobs for Louisiana residents than ever before. Site Selection bases its business climate ranking on a variety of factors. Half of the score results from a survey of corporate site selectors who are asked to rank the states based on their recent experience of locating facilities in them. The other 50 percent is We don t like having the federal government abrogate based on an index that includes total new projects their responsibility, said John LaRue. If everybody year-to-date, both overall and per capita; state starts doing that they ll just say we really don t have to tax burdens on new and established companies; do this, we ll let the ports do it themselves. and performance in Site Selection s annual Top Competitive States ranking. Louisiana ranked No. 2 in 2014 and No. 6 in 2013 for Top Business Climate. LED News Site Selection Ranks Louisiana No. 4 In National Business Climate Ranking Louisiana earns sixth consecutive Top 10 spot in publication s rating of best states for business Recently, Site Selection ranked Louisiana No. 4 in the magazine s 2015 Top State Business Climate Rankings. It is the sixth consecutive Top 10 ranking for Louisiana in the annual Site Selection report and reinforces the state s reputation as a top location for business investment and job creation. Just six years ago, Louisiana ranked No. 25. Gov. Bobby Jindal said, Economic development has been a top priority for this administration, and recognition such as this from a respected source like Since 2008, Louisiana has secured economic development wins that are resulting in more than 91,000 new jobs, more than $62 billion in new capital investment and hundreds of millions of dollars in new sales for small businesses across the state. Earlier this year, Business Facilities magazine ranked Louisiana No. 3 in the U.S. in its Best Business Climates ranking, and Area Development magazine placed Louisiana No. 8 in its Top States for Doing Business ranking, the fifth consecutive Top 10 ranking for Louisiana in that annual report. Louisiana now places higher in all national business climate rankings than it ever did prior to In five national business climate rankings those published by Area Development, Business Facilities, Chief Executive, Site Selection and international location marketing firm DCI Louisiana now ranks among the Top 10 states in the U.S. Site Selection named Louisiana Economic Development the No. 2 state economic development agency in the nation in May 2015, which reflected the Top Competitive States

10 ranking for 2014 performance. Mark Your Calendars The Ports Association of Louisiana would like to wish all of our members, legislators, and maritime community a happy and safe Thanksgiving! Upcoming Board Meetings November: No Meeting December 3: New Orleans, Port of New Orleans 2016 Meeting Dates are Still Tentative