Bonds to help pay for ExxonMobil improvements

ExxonMobil is banking on the Metro Council’s approval Wednesday of $200 million in revenue bonds for an improvement project. If approved, the Gulf Opportunity Zone bonds will be used for competitiveness upgrade projects at the Baton Rouge Refinery and Chemical Plant. “These projects will continue to build on our efforts to increase energy efficiency, further reduce emissions and improve technologies at our facilities,” says ExxonMobil spokeswoman Lana Venable. “At this point, we are not able to provide additional specifics regarding the multiple projects that the GO Zone Bond capacity will help to support,” she says. Metro Council administrator Brian Mayers says the resolution is a formality and that the energy firm will assume all cost burdens. “It’s totally Exxon’s obligation and liability,” he says. “It’s not the city’s or the parish’s responsibility.” Mayers says the move puts the company in a favorable tax position as it begins its work. The Gulf Opportunity Zone Act of 2005 provides federal and state tax incentives for business development in parishes affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Most developments in the Louisiana GO Zone qualify for tax-exempt bond financing. The Metro Council meets at 4 p.m. Wednesday on the third floor of the Governmental Building, 222 St. Louis St. —Ian McGibboney