DuPont Dow Elastomers dedicates successful Engage startup

DuPont Dow Elastomers held a dedication ceremony recently to celebrate the successful startup of its new Engage facility, located within Dow Louisiana Operations integrated site in Plaquemine.

The facility is the latest in a series of investments totaling more than $400 million that DuPont Dow has made in Louisiana since 1996. With this new facility, more than 40 percent of DuPont Dow's global assets are now located in the state. The new plant adds 80 new jobs in Louisiana.

Engage is DuPont Dow's fastest growing product line. It is a durable and flexible thermoplastic elastomer that is used in automobile bumpers, footwear and other consumer products to make them more impact-resistant and long-lasting.

According to Mike Sticklen, DuPont Dow vice president of operations, the successful startup of the facility, the largest of its kind in the world, combined with an outstanding safety performance during construction, is an economic development success.

"We're pleased to celebrate this expansion of our business in Louisiana," said Sticklen. "With the successful startup of our new Engage facility, we are able to significantly increase our commitment to 'choose Louisiana' as the place in which to live, work and do business. In addition, we're proud that this is an environmentally responsible operation in terms of air and water emissions."

DuPont Dow Elastomers is a joint venture of The Dow Chemical Company and the DuPont Company. The global business, headquartered in Wilmington, Del., had more than $1 billion in specialty elastomer sales in 2002.

Companies negotiate pipe fabrication agreement with Dow

International Piping Systems LLC (IPS) and Turner International Piping Systems Inc. (TIPS) announced recently the successful negotiation of a five-year agreement to provide pipe fabrication services to The Dow Chemical Company in North America.

The project includes maintenance work, small capital projects for Dow's Gulf Coast locations and large project work for Dow NA. Both parties are currently working on the implementation. Work will be performed by IPS in Port Allen and by TIPS in Paris, Texas. Additional facilities are being considered in the Houston area.

IPS and TIPS are both operating divisions of Turner Industries Holding Company.

Turner Industries is the largest privately owned industrial construction and maintenance organization in Louisiana. The company has a nearly 12,000-member work force and consistently ranks in the Top 100 Contractors in the Maintenance, Petrochemical and Industrial Sectors by Engineering News Record.

The Turner Industries family consists of 16 separate operating companies whose collective annual sales volume has more than doubled from $310 million in 1993 to more than $800 million today.

WillStaff becomes WillStaff Crystal following sale

WillStaff Worldwide Staffing, headquartered in Monroe, has been sold to Crystal Co. of Japan and is changing its name to WillStaff Crystal.

Wayne Williamson, former WillStaff owner, will remain as president of the new company. He said the nearly 100 full-time workers in Monroe would remain employed at the new company.

"We're excited about our chances for growth and to help Monroe maintain these jobs and generate some more. We expect our staff to remain constant or grow," Williamson said. He added that he had a five-year contract with Crystal to run WillStaff.

WillStaff Crystal has 35 branches in 11 states, according to Williamson. Company headquarters for the Crystal group is in Kyoto, Japan.

Williamson said WillStaff Crystal's regional headquarters would remain in downtown Monroe although it's moving from the ONB Tower to the former Standard Office Building at 328 DeSiard Street.

Williamson and his wife founded WillStaff in 2000 after breaking away from the Snelling Personnel Service franchise.

Mississippi River sediment will restore wetlands just below Venice

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co., Oak Brook, Ill., has been awarded a contract to begin a precedent-setting project to restore south Louisiana wetlands through the diversion of Mississippi River sediment and water.

Under the $3.6 million contract awarded in August, Great Lakes' dredge California will cut through the river's low, narrow bank six miles below Venice. This would send sediment and water into West Bay at 20,000 cu. ft. per second.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Louisiana Department of Natural

Resources will share the cost 85 percent federal and 15 percent local. Construction is to begin in September.

It will be the first phase of the $22.3 million West Bay Sediment Diversion Project to restore 10,000 acres of wetlands over 20 years.

The project will be the first to restore coastal Louisiana through the large-scale diversion of sediments and fresh water directly from the Mississippi River into coastal marshes. No structure or gates will be built to operate the diversion.

"This project will harness the natural land-building power of the river and mimic the natural processes that formed coastal Louisiana," said Gregory Miller, the Corps' project manager. "Once this area was coastal wetland, but now it is shallow, open water."

An interim channel will be dug first, designed to limit flow to 20,000 cu. ft. per second (cfs) at average river stage. If experience proves it feasible, the channel would be enlarged to discharge 50,000 cfs into West Bay.

The interim diversion will be closely monitored before the larger channel is cut. A relatively small portion of riverbank and adjacent wetlands will be excavated to build the diversion channel. The project will be built under the federal Coastal Wetlands, Planning, Protection and Restoration Act, also known as the Breaux Act.

Project will help water circulation in Atchafalaya Basin

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has designed a water-management project to provide water circulation improvements and sediment management in south Louisiana's great Atchafalaya Basin river swamp.

The purpose of the Buffalo Cove Water Management Unit is to enhance fish and wildlife resources. It would benefit more than 7,500 acres initially and 53,000 to 58,000 acres eventually. It is located in the lower basin in Iberia, St. Martin and St. Mary parishes.

A 75-page draft environmental assessment is now available from the Corps of Engineers. Also available is a draft "finding of no significant impact" or FONSI, which if adopted would give the environmental green light for construction.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to begin construction in 2004 on Buffalo Cove, the first water management unit in the Atchafalaya Basin Floodway System project.

The Buffalo Cove project proposes "to improve interior circulation within the swamp, remove barriers to north-south flow, provide input of oxygenated, low temperature river water, and prevent or manage sediment input into the interior swamps," said Larry Hartzog, a Corps freshwater biologist.

VOA designs marine reserve training center in Lafayette

The Orlando, Fla., office of VOA Associates Inc. architecture, planning and interior design recently announced the completion of its commission to provide design-build services for the new, $4.6 million Marine Corps Training Center in Lafayette.

VOA provided full architectural/engineering services, in partnership with Gibbs Construction LLC of New Orleans, for the design-build project, which was completed in June. The two-story, 34,000-sq.-ft. facility is located on a 5-acre site directly across from the Lafayette Regional Airport on Surrey Road, approximately 100 miles northwest of New Orleans.

According to Ted G. Fery AIA, the facility is one of the first Naval Reserve buildings to incorporate blast hardened construction and stringent standoff requirements based on the new DoD Anti-Terrorism/Force Protection (AT/FP) standards. Fery, who is director of the firm's AT/FP team, said that the small site presented extremely challenging conditions incorporating the new AT/FP standards and actually will require a portion of the new building to be designed to resist the effects of a nearby blast.

The new center provides support space for all aspects of training, recruiting and administration of the Marine Corps' TOW Platoon, 23rd Marines, 4th Marine Division reserve unit. In addition to new office space, the building includes classrooms, an assembly drill hall, armory, medical unit, exercise area, conference rooms, locker rooms/showers/toilets and a four-bay vehicle maintenance facility.

The Louisiana Dept. of Transportation and Development let to contract 318 construction projects totaling approximately $534 million during the fiscal year that ended June 30, according to DOTD Secretary Kam Movassaghi.

The dollar value represents a $12 million increase over last year's construction contract lettings and continues a 10-year trend of increased productivity with fewer employees.

"Since 1992," Movassaghi said, "we increased our average annual construction project lettings by 78 percent, but lost 250 employees during that same time.

"Doing more with less is not new for DOTD," he said. "Although the Louisiana Transportation Trust Fund created in 1989 provides a dedicated source of revenue, the fuel tax has never been adjusted for inflation or rising construction costs. Since 1989, the buying value of a dollar has decreased to about 60 cents, so doing more with less is an annual challenge for us."

Compared to past average lettings of $50 million per year, DOTD issued $172 million of TIMED project lettings under its accelerated construction plan.

"Our targeted spending on the TIMED program this year was $162 million," Movassaghi said. "We actually let 20 TIMED construction projects valued at $172 million. Additionally, we completed seven TIMED project segments, two clearing and grubbing contracts and 29 miles of brand new highway."