An official with Driftwood LNG told Calcasieu Parish police jurors Thursday that the company will make sure residents in the parish are comfortable with the estimated $12 billion project.
Jason French, Driftwood’s vice president of government and public affairs, said there are plans for a “meet-and-greet program,” where officials will go into neighborhoods, meet with residents and answer questions about the project.
“You don’t have to be a mile from the facility for us to do that,” he said. “We can do those anywhere that someone wants to hear about this project. The senior management team behind this project is very committed to making this project happen.”
French said the facility will be located on 800 acres just south of Carlyss, and it could start producing liquefied natural gas by 2022. The facility’s five LNG plants will produce 26 million tons of LNG per year.
He said the company is in the prefiling process with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and that there are plans to file a permit application with FERC in March. He said “more than 40 major permits” are required to build the facility.
French spoke of the need to provide LNG at a cheaper cost. He said the company is working to use different technology in the process to drive down costs. He said each of the five plants will have four production units that will be able to meet the needs of the market.
“Customers don’t always want one train’s worth of gas,” he said.
French said a 96-mile pipeline will also be built to bring the natural gas to the facility.
French said the Southwest Louisiana region is “ground zero for energy revolution” in the U.S. He said the country has an abundant supply of natural gas that can be exported.
French said the project will generate about 3,500 construction jobs and will take seven years to build. Once done, the facility and pipeline operations will produce 250 permanent jobs.
French said the permits are expected to be acquired by March 2018, and the entire facility will be complete by 2025.
District 5 Police Juror Nic Hunter asked about a housing plan for construction workers at Driftwood. He encouraged Driftwood officials to meet with local officials and stakeholders and discuss plans to house thousands of temporary workers.
French said Driftwood officials are “well aware” of both the housing and traffic issues that can arise with a multibillion-dollar project.
“We want to get ahead of it before we get to 2018 and construction,” he said.
The American Press reported last month that Patricia Outtrim, Driftwood’s vice president of government and regulatory affairs, said the area has “enough housing stock,” according to a recent housing analysis.
Budget
Earlier in the day, members of the Police Jury’s Budget Committee approved the proposed 2017 budget, which stands at $223.4 million. That is 13.2 percent more than the $197.4 million budgeted for this year.
The panel held a hearing for the public to respond to the budget, but no comments were made.
Most of the increases in next year’s budget proposal are because nearly $25 million more is being spent on capital improvements compared with this year’s budget.
Improvements to parish roads and bridges will make up more than half of the capital projects. Additional funding will be spent on Family and Juvenile Court, Animal Services and the Coroner’s Office.
The full Police Jury will take final action on the spending plan at its Dec. 15 meeting.
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