Alabama chosen as site for steel plant

NEW ORLEANS – Alabama beat out Louisiana for a new $4.2 billion steel plant, dealing a disappointing blow to a state still healing from hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Steelmaker ThyssenKrupp AG said Friday it will build the plant near Mobile. The plant is scheduled to open in 2010 and employ as many as 2,700 workers when fully operational.

Gov. Kathleen Blanco said she was disappointed but hopeful that, by beating out at least 20 other states to get into the final competition with Alabama, Louisiana has shown that it is a viable state for major economic development projects in the future.

“We went to the major leagues and we proved that Louisiana can compete for any project on the horizon,’’ Blanco said at a news conference in Baton Rouge.

Alabama had offered the company several tax breaks and a $400 million incentives package. Louisiana also had offered its own package of incentives to lure the company.

ThyssenKrupp AG had also been eyeing a site in St. James Parish along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

Initially, the company had said the project would run some $2.9 billion, but raised the amount because “higher capacities and extended plant configurations were shown to be feasible and economic.’’

State Sen. Tom Schedler, a Mandeville Republican who has accompanied Blanco on a trip to Germany to court the company, said the mill “would have been

the biggest thing since the Superdome.’’

“If there was ever a state that needed a positive announcement, it was Louisiana,’’ he added.

The company said that once the plant is up and running, it could create as many as 38,000 new jobs related to the mill, from suppliers to transportation to dining and entertainment.

Bob Soulliere, president and CEO of ThyssenKrupp Steel and Stainless USA, said Louisiana “made an excellent proposal and demonstrated many important and valuable attributes for business development.’’

“We recognize this announcement comes as a disappointment to many people in Louisiana, particularly those who worked so hard on this project,’’ he said in a statement released by Blanco’s office.

State Rep. John Alario, D-Westwego, said the site that ThyssenKrupp considered in Louisiana could be used for a different project.

“It may have opened the door for something else to happen,’’ he said. “It’s not the end of the world. We didn’t have (the mill) to start with.’’

Louisiana was offering a package of tax breaks, jo1 training and cash to lure the company. The Legislature has earmarked $300 million, and the House on Thursday approved Blanco’s proposal to add another $100 million.

“I know runner-up doesn’t mean anything, but we learned a lot from this,’’ Schedler added. “Who knows in the end why they went in this direction?’’

Loren Scott, an economic consultant who prepared a report on the plant proposal for the state, said Alabama benefited from having a site located near Mississippi and Florida.

“They were able to pull in those delegations to help them out,’’ he said.

Despite ThyssenKrupp’s decision, Scott said Louisiana has had some recent success in attracting new jobs to the state.

“It’s really depressing when you miss something this big,’’ he said, “but it’s not like we’re striking out left and right.’’