[StBernard] Priority #1 - Jobs

[Westley Annis]

Dear Friends - 

Growing Louisiana's economy has been the top priority of our administration
since day one - most importantly though - it's all about creating
opportunity for our people, so they can pursue their dreams here at home.
That's why we continue to work aggressively to attract more and more
companies who will invest in our state. 

This week we marked yet another great economic development win when we
announced that Halliburton will be locating a new manufacturing facility in
Lafayette.  The new facility will produce complex machined components for
oilfield service operations, and represents a state-of-the-art addition to
our manufacturing sector.

 
<http://images.publicaster.com/ImageLibrary/account848/images/4-8-11-Jindal.
gif> As the Associated Press
<http://cl.publicaster.com/ClickThru.aspx?pubids=393%7c7641%7c9390%7c791501&
digest=9kfJ5pubPVthgMoQzKTbpQ&sysid=1>  reported, Halliburton will be
investing nearly $65 million in the project, which will create 150 new
direct jobs with an annual payroll of more than $8 million before benefits.
Additionally, this new facility will create more than 350 indirect jobs
which means the entire job win will result in more than 500 new jobs for our
people. 

This company could have gone anywhere in the country or the world, so it's a
testament to our state's attractive, rapidly improving business climate and
our world-class workforce that Halliburton picked Louisiana for its new
facility.

This week I also spoke to the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association on Tuesday,
where I stressed the importance of speeding up the drilling permitting
process so our folks can get back to work. As I told KPLC-TV
<http://cl.publicaster.com/ClickThru.aspx?pubids=393%7c7642%7c9390%7c791501&
digest=5b5EJ3mZiPtqklBJ3t5tpA&sysid=1> , Louisiana's energy industry fuels
the nation and the federal government needs to cut the red tape and provide
some predictability for the energy industry, or else, we will all continue
to pay the price in terms of lost jobs and ever higher prices at the pump.  

Governor Bobby Jindal