Al Jazeera America today published the first in a three-part series of stories it’s calling “China’s Louisiana Purchase,” in which the publication investigates links between Louisiana and the Chinese government regarding a $1.85 billion methanol plant planned in St. James Parish.
The project was announced last summer by Yuhuang Chemical and Gov. Bobby Jindal, with Louisiana Economic Development estimating it will create 400 direct jobs and 2,365 indirect jobs in southeast Louisiana. The Al Jazeera story focuses on one man involved in the deal—Wang Jinshu—whose name wasn’t mentioned when the project was announced.
“Not many locals in a predominantly black neighborhood of St. James Parish—halfway between New Orleans and Baton Rouge—know that Wang Jinshu, the Communist Party Secretary for the northeastern Chinese village of Yuhuang and a former delegate to the National People’s Congress, is the man at the helm of a $1.85 billion methanol plant to be built in their town over the next two years with a $9.5 million incentive package from the state,” reads the story. “The details of the project are unclear, residents say, largely because they were not told about the project until local officials, amid discussions with state officials and Chinese diplomats, decided to move forward with the project in July 2014.”
The report says the Chinese company has filed for expedited permits to build and operate the plant on a sprawling 1,100 acres that are situated between a high school, two churches and an assisted living facility for senior citizens. The filing was with the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, which is set to study the potential impact of the plant on the local environment and deliver its decision March 6.
“What is clear is that there are links between Wang’s U.S. subsidiary—Houston-headquartered Yuhuang Chemical Inc.—and the Chinese government and the Jindal administration,” reads the story, which notes neither Wang, his company or its U.S. subsidiary, Yao, Jones, would comment on the story, nor would the Jindal administration or St. James Parish officials. Read the full story.
