Jindal, Tiburon announce 350 new jobs at Camp Minden

Gov. Bobby Jindal and Jack Blalock, senior business development manager for Tiburon Associates Inc., announced today that Tiburon will create 350 jobs and open a maintenance overhaul facility for transport vehicles at Camp Minden. The transport vehicles are used to move military equipment and personnel to the battlefront. According to LED, the project will result in 577 indirect jobs, for a total of more than 900 new direct and indirect jobs in the regional economy. Located in northwest Louisiana, Camp Minden is the newest training site for the Louisiana National Guard and was a former 15,000-acre U.S. Army ammunition site before the federal government deeded the property to Louisiana in 2005. Tiburon, based in Alexandria, Va., won a first-year $14 million contract with its Texas-based partner, White’s Paint Blast, to overhaul and recondition combat tactical wheeled vehicles from the federal Red River Army Depot near Texarkana, Texas. As the successful contract bidder, Tiburon chose Louisiana’s Camp Minden site over competing sites in Texas and Arkansas. To secure the project, LED offered Tiburon a performance-based Economic Development Loan Program award of $500,000 that’s forgivable if the company meets its payroll commitments. In addition, Tiburon will receive the services of LED FastStart, and the company is expected to utilize the state’s Quality Jobs Program. Tiburon leased more than 30,000 square feet of former machining space at Camp Minden in anticipation of winning the U.S. Army contract.