Indorama Ventures didn’t add the number of employees estimated it would when it struck its Industrial Tax Exemption Program March 2020. As a result, the Calcasieu Parish School Board is holding the Westlake company accountable. To meet the requirement Indorama is partnering with Sowela Technical Community College and reaching out to U.S. Military veterans. One recent veteran hire is Safety Manager Frank Thompson who announced the company’s recent celebration of 365 days without an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) “recordable.”

“We don’t want to give any impression that we have a problem with the Calcasieu Parish School Board’s decision,” said Plant Manager David Hext. “We didn’t meet the requirements. We plan to do so.”

Hext admits Indorama had a “troubled start” that includes LDEQ violations. There has been employee turnover

“The plant was started up,” he said. “We recognized the deficiencies and shut it down for a year-and-a-half to invest about 70 million dollars in process safety management improvement for the site.”

Hext has only recently taken over the helm and shared some of the plant’s latest numbers with the American Press. He said current capital investment also includes environmental stewardship initiatives.

The total payroll for the Westlake Indorama plant in 2021 was $14.8 million. The average yearly pay for the 137 employees is more than $134,000. The 401K plan has recently been improved, and some employees have the potential for an annual bonus.

“Some positions are difficult to fill, he said. “The skill set is very specific.”

Hext said there is movement of these ideally-skilled employees from plant to plant, Citgo, Lotte, LyondellBasell and existing and new LNG plants.

Three new positions were onboarded in 2022, and Hext said six offers have been extended to operators and five of the six offers have been accepted.

In addition to the 137 Indorama positions, the plant employs 100 resident contractors, Hext said.

Indorama will lose its 10-year, 80 percent exemption a year early as a result of not hiring employees as estimated. ITEP is the state tax incentive program for manufacturers. The program abates, up to ten years, local property taxes (Ad Valorem) on a manufacturer’s new investment and capitalized additions related to the manufacturing site. It’s administered by the Louisiana Board of Commerce & Industry (C&I) through the Louisiana Department of Economic and Development.

The Calcasieu Sheriff’s Department and the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury did not return an unfavorable response to the tax abatement.