Tenaska NG Fuels, the Omaha, Nebraska-based developer of a natural gas liquefaction facility that was planned for an 80-acre site off Scenic Highway near Devil’s Swamp, told Daily Report this week that it is pursuing the project—even though most of the land was sold last week to a New Orleans construction company.
Executives with Tenaska, which first announced plans last fall to develop the Tenaska Bayou LNG with Houston-based partner Waller Marine, say they have identified 12 potential new sites between Baton Rouge and New Orleans and still hope to develop the facility. Should the facility come to fruition, it is expected initially to be capable of producing 200,000 gallons of LNG daily to supply brown-water vessels on the river.
“Tenaska and Waller Marine continue to move forward,” says Doug Lauver, vice president of LNG development. “We are pleased with the progress we have made so far.” Lauver could not provide any additional details on the 12 sites or a specific timeline for the project.
Also this week, officials with Mary Bird Perkins-Our Lady of the Lake Cancer Center and Woman’s Hospital announced a new partnership to increase the fight against breast and gynecologic cancer, under which a new facility called the Center for Breast and GYN Cancer is planned for the Woman’s campus on Airline Highway.
Though details on the center’s size and cost were not released, officials say the free-standing facility is on schedule to be completed by late next year. Along with the new cancer center, hospital officials say the partnership will provide women in Baton Rouge and across the Gulf South who are battling breast and gynecologic cancer more comprehensive care options.
Here’s a rundown of some of the other top local stories making headlines in Daily Report this week:
- LSU President F. King Alexander wrapped up a whirlwind week of speaking engagements on Wednesday with an address to the Rotary Club of Baton Rouge, his sixth in the past seven days. As with his previous speeches, Alexander outlined the doomsday scenario LSU faces—an 82% reduction of the university’s budget—if state lawmakers don’t come up with a way to stave off some $600 million in budget cuts planned for higher education. On Monday, Alexander spoke to the Press Club of Baton Rouge.
- While legislators, business leaders and local government leaders collectively brace for the debate on how to plug the $1.6 billion shortfall for the coming fiscal year, economists Jim Richardson of LSU and Steven Sheffrin and James Alm of Tulane University issued a study this week on potential solutions to the state’s tax structure. Their findings, however, are devoid of a quick fix for policy makers in the upcoming legislative session beginning April 13.
- The consultant working on a new business plan for the East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority expects to have a completed report by early summer that will outline a series of possible new directions for the embattled agency. The Baton Rouge Area Foundation retained SSA Consultants late last year to study the RDA and help it devise a sustainable business plan.
- State Rep. Steve Carter has decided to seek the position of Speaker of the House next year, assuming he is re-elected this fall to the District 68 seat in East Baton Rouge Parish he has held since 2007. The Republican lawmaker says he is very interested in the position and has formed a political action committee to help build support for his speaker candidacy among fellow House members.
- Facing steep competition from local grocers and online competitors, Patti Toups has decided to close her local health food shop, The Health-Nut Hut on Coursey Boulevard, after 19 years in business.
- Lake Pointe Center, a 18,200-square-foot shopping center at 19900 Old Scenic Highway in Zachary that houses a Jambalaya Shoppe, Papa John’s and FASTLane walk-in clinic, among others, has been sold to Natchez, Mississippi-based investors for more than $2.26 million.
- Vivid Ink Graphics has purchased just shy of three acres at 15339 Airline Highway for $880,000 on which the company hopes to develop pad sites for heavy commercial use, says owner Stephen St. Cyr. Mark Hebert of Kurz & Hebert Commercial Real Estate is working with St. Cyr to get the land—as well as nearly three additional acres of adjoining land that Hebert represents—rezoned from residential to commercial and line up some tenants.
—Steve Sanoski
