The Shaw Group says it will not accept $28.5 million in state economic development funds from the state. But the engineering and construction firm says it will still abide by the commitments it made with Louisiana Economic Development to open a nuclear module manufacturing facility in Lake Charles, creating 1,400 new jobs and keep its headquarters in Baton Rouge through 2023.
Jim Bernhard, Shaw president and CEO, says the company is turning down the incentives because of the state’s financial situation. “At the time we negotiated the incentive package, the state had surplus funds available for economic development purposes,” Bernhard said in a statement. “We don’t want to be part of the reason the state now has to cut funding to education and health care.”
The Legislature needed to change the current law governing the economic development megafund in order for Shaw to tap into the dollars. State Sen. Mike Walsworth, who was pushing the megafund change, had criticized Shaw for closing a pipe fabrication plant and laying off 200 people in his West Monroe backyard, while asking the state for millions in incentives.
Gentry Brann, a spokeswoman for Shaw, says the criticism over the pipe plant shutdown was not related to the decision to forgo incentive money. “Both of these decisions were in the works for quite some time,” she says. “We felt this was something important for the company to do.”—Timothy Boone
