Economic survival top headlines for 2011

Industrial concerns for petroleum and seafood remained among the top business news stories in 2011, mostly due to residual impact from the BP oil release of April 20, 2010.

Ranking stories with the most frequent entries combined with significance for the region as carrying decisive weight, an annual countdown of the top 10 business news stories of the year is presented to bring 2011 to a close.

No. 10 Coastal Cooperation

The America’s Wetlands Foundation got its feet wet in the Tri-parish region during 2011, by organizing and implementing hands-on projects that involved corporate representatives taking to the marshes.

Terrebonne, Lafourche and St. Mary parishes were among 12 combined populations reaching from Texas to Florida that focused on specific areas and projects designed to restore the Gulf Coast.

The AWF kicked off its efforts in February and by September, the restoration group had been joined by employees from Shell Oil, Entergy and other corporations that planted natural grasses in marsh areas of Lafourche and installed floating islands near Isle de Jean Charles in Terrebonne Parish to replenish land and vegetative growth.

No. 9 Employment Counts

While the remainder of the nation maintained an unemployment rate that hovered just above 9 percent in 2011, the Tri-parish region posted numbers that were among the best in the country.

The Houma-Thibodaux metropolitan statistical area listed its lowest unemployment in September at a level of 4.7 percent, while the state jobless rate was at 6.9 percent. Those figures remained steady through the end of the year.

Louisiana Workforce Commission Labor Market Specialist Ashley Roth said Louisiana experienced the third highest employment increase in the United States during the year, which suggests potential of a positive trend in 2012.

Employment experts warned during the year that although low unemployment figures are positive, they do not account for those that have given up looking for work, those that have not filed for unemployment benefits or those considered self-employed but still may have experienced a slowdown in working contracts.

By contrast, regional development experts said a diverse economy and being somewhat geographically isolated in the southern-most reaches of Louisiana offered positive elements for keeping business local and residents employed.

No. 8 Sugar Cane Production

Unless one frequently drives the upper parts of the Tri-parish region, it would be easy to forget the importance of agriculture to the local economy, specifically the raising and milling of sugar cane along with scientific work conducted at the USDA research centers in Terrebonne Parish.

The 2011 season saw sugar cane production make a strong showing for a third consecutive year, with new cane varieties and farming methods producing greater yields per acre. While complete figures were not prepared by the final week of December, American Sugar Cane League General Manager Jim Simon said that although tonnage was down, actual sugar production could surpass the 231 pounds per ton produced in 2010.

Sugar cane growers and processors noted that in 2011 a total of 510 farms and 11 mills in Louisiana produced more marketable sugar than at any time in the past when there was a greater number of growers and millers.

It was also in 2011, that the USDA Sugar Cane Research Center in Houma revealed that work is underway for the development of a fuel cane that could be used as a gasoline additive and alternative fuel source. Researchers found cane to be more efficient than the use of corn for ethanol and more economical. Such a development would also compliment the strong petroleum base of coastal Louisiana.

No. 7 Rig Count

When a federal deepwater drilling moratorium was put in place following the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster, rigs began leaving the Gulf of Mexico for areas where oil and gas companies could resume work. Many remained away even after the ban was lifted.

By October, the U.S. offshore and land rig count had rebounded to cover 2,012 locations, although that number was significantly less than half of a 1981 peak of 4,530 rigs.

In November, BP was permitted its first deepwater exploration project since the blowout and release that cause the largest oil spill in North American history. BP began drilling at the Keathley Canyon Kaskida with a project anticipated to last 205 days.

Seventeen new offshore wells were permitted between March 11 and Nov. 1. By the end of the year, permits remained significantly low with one issued per month standing in sharp contrast with an average 5.8 permits issued per month that took place before the BP spill.

No. 6 Saltwater Fishing Capitol

During 2011, Terrebonne Parish was designated the saltwater fishing capitol of the world by local government officials and the securing of a federal trademark to promote recreational fishing from the Gulf Coast location.

In August, 70 licensed recreational fishing captains confirmed the claim and said Terrebonne Parish is among the leaders in a $200 million segment of Louisiana’s tourism industry. Coastal recreational fishing generates more than $6 million locally.

Capt. Bill Lake, owner of Bayou Guide service, said that charter fishing has steadily increased and represents an approximate 30 percent boost in activity every year.

With relaxed limits on speckled trout and other popular catches in Louisiana, anglers from other states are willing to pay affordable prices to fish in the bayou state.

A $2 million contribution from BP helped Terrebonne Parish promote itself in other parts of the country as the world’s saltwater fishing capitol.

“Terrebonne Parish has been the best kept secret in Louisiana,” Terrebonne Parish President Michel Claudet said. “We are the saltwater fishing capitol of the world because in Terrebonne we don’t fish, we catch.”

No. 5 Medical Developments

On Oct. 22, Terrebonne General Medical Center officially opened the long awaited Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center. The $14.8 million addition to the TGMC campus was introduced as offering full service screening, mammography, educational opportunities, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, surgery and clinical trials.

Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center received a five-year accreditation for its internal medicine residency program and graduated its first class for that specialty. While Louisiana legislators considered closing some state-funded hospitals, Chabert was listed among the top 10 employers for Terrebonne Parish, with multiple awards presented to staff nurses by their professional organizations.

As a teaching hospital, Chabert also added a cancer education and support library to its facility in partnership with the American Cancer Society, and posted measured growth in its palliative care program.

Thibodaux Regional Medical Center also introduced expansion plans during 2011. Steps taken by the hospital in included plans to build a 70,000-square-foot, $18 million wellness center. Construction is to begin in 2013.

The expanded TRMC facility is expected to house a full sports medicine program with a fitness center, pool, spine center and state-of-the-art imaging center with CT and PET scans and MRIs.

Officials with all three medical centers also noted that by November a national report listed patients in the Tri-parish area among the happiest in the nation.

No. 4 Working Education

Fletcher Technical Community College was named among the fastest growing two-year colleges in the nation during 2011 and celebrated its 60th anniversary with continued expansion.

In January, ground was turned to begin construction on a new $19.1 million, 89,000 square foot facility on La. Highway 311 at Weatherford Road. In addition to existing facilities that specialize individually in marine occupations and traditional industrial trades, the new campus will house classes in business, and design and integrated production classes will be held to train students to work in the oil industry. The facility is expected to be completed by the fall semester of 2012.

August saw Fletcher awarded $2.7 million from part of a Community Development Block Grant to train a skilled workforce for relief efforts following hurricanes and other disasters. The funds were used to help pay for the 38.6 acres where the school is building its new facility.

Dedicated to teaching students how to respond in real life situations, 35 nursing students from Fletcher participated in a mock disaster lead by the Terrebonne Parish office for the Department of Homeland Security. Students said being part of the drill was a valuable learning experience.

A November gala to mark Fletcher having completed six decades of educating students and expanding to become a premier learning center for the region offered a complete experience for the year.

No. 3 Shrimp and Oysters

Still reeling from public impressions regarding gulf seafood following the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster, feeling frustrated because of a lack of compensation from Kenneth Feinberg and the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, and experiencing seasons with decreased harvests, shrimpers and oyster farmers found 2011 to be a year of challenge that carried over from the spring of 2010.

In February, oyster industry leaders said recovery would not be easy. Louisiana is the nation’s leader in fresh oyster production, but only weeks into a new year experts admitted that 2011 would not be a banner year.

Oyster producers said their argument was not so much with BP as it was with the federal government’s lack of response to the needs of fishermen and processors throughout the Gulf Coast.

Members of the seafood industry addressed members of the U.S. House of Representatives Natural Resource Committee on April 19 in Houma. Concerns about the quality of catches and a lack of landing compensation from the GCCF continued to be a repetitive theme during the year.

Spring flooding in May brought increased damage to the oyster business as fresh water was diverted over saltwater fields, and shrimpers reported that the spring season was less than stellar for them as well.

On June 22, shrimpers took their fight to Baton Rouge and protested on the capitol steps. Their catch of the day was as disappointing as what had not been caught in their nets.

By December, the tide for seafood began to turn. The GCCF announced it would double claims for those in the shrimp and crab business. Locals said they were appreciative but apprehensive as to if promises made this time would be any better kept than they had been in the past. Government officials also announced plans which would restore oyster beds with part of $530 million in BP funding.

Area fishing industry professionals finished the year by stating this was the worst season for seafood they could remember. While remaining hopeful for a strong return in the New Year, they wondered what kind of bait would be worth trusting for a big catch.

No. 2 Oil and Gas

Oil and Gas might be the No.1 industry of the Tri-parish region, but in 2011 it slipped to become the No. 2 business news story of the year.

The year 2011 started with the same theme that closed 2010, free up drilling permits for offshore exploration.

A drilling permit moratorium brought the industry to almost a complete stop in 2010. Permits returned in 2011, but only as a slow trickle. Industry leaders sited reports that found deepwater plan approval to be down 80 percent.

Chevron was among the companies to make new deepwater oil strikes in the Gulf of Mexico. With this development, previously skeptical oilmen began to consider the prospects of their business returning to normal by the end of 2012.

The bulk of oil and gas news in 2011 reinforced what residents of south Louisiana already know, that the Tri-parish region is critical not only to exploration and capture of the offshore product, but is the major route for raw product to be taken to refineries and market through Port Fourchon.

That message was taken to Capitol Hill by Rep. Jeff Landry, who during a speech delivered by President Barack Obama, held up a sign that read “Drilling = Jobs.”

By the end of December, 20 companies had submitted 191 successful bids totaling $337.7 million in the first oil and gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico since the BP spill. Industry leaders nodded when considering that the industry might slowly be making its way back to normal.

No. 1 TEDA Trials

“This organization has grown up in the past year,” Terrebonne Economic Development Authority Board of Commissioners member Lori Davis said to sum up 2011 for the primary economic agency for the parish.

Trials began for TEDA with attempts to secure its second ever CEO after the organization’s initial executive, Michael Ferdinand was fired in December 2010 and an already developing rift among select members widened during much of a six-month search to fill that position.

In January, the TEDA board hired in a part-time capacity South Central Industrial Association Executive Director Jane Arnette to work as manager of the organization for what was expected to be a period ending by the completion of February.

An already stressful situation regarding differences in policy and procedure was compounded when TEDA was faced with a workplace violation lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and faced possible disbandment by the Terrebonne Parish Council when a cooperative endeavor agreement was put on a 30-day hold in January. By the end of that month the council had decided to extend backing of TEDA for another three years.

In February, it was agreed that the TEDA board and employees would take diversity training, but officers would not confirm nor deny if it had anything to do with settling the EEOC lawsuit.

Mid-March arrived and Arnette had put in more time than anticipated at the TEDA office. As a result, SCIA leaders asked TEDA to reimburse that organization 20 percent of Arnette’s pay, approximately $1,060 for the time she had worked in March. Arnette soon afterward said she could no longer divide her attention between the two organizations and returned her exclusive efforts to SCIA.

It was during the second half of April that a first round of candidates for the TEDA CEO position was confirmed. The five prospects were brought to Houma in May, to be wined and dined and given the grand tour. One candidate emerged as a selected recommendation by the search committee, only to be rejected by the full board when a past history of personal bankruptcy and questionable financial practices on the part of the key candidate surfaced.

The search for a CEO continued from square one on June 1 as some board members accused others of pushing personal interest over seeking what was best for the organization.

On June 29, the TEDA Board of Commissioners considered a group of three new CEO candidates. The prospects came under suspicion by some board members that questioned how quickly the new pool of position seekers was found when the previous finalists emerged only after months of work.

By the end of that meeting, eight of the 14 board members present for the decision making process had named Steve Vassallo to become the organization’s second-ever top executive. He received ratification by the Terrebonne Parish Council even as some members of that body let it be known that Vassallo would have to prove himself to them.

Vassallo began work on Aug. 8 and unapologetically set an aggressive pace to move TEDA forward. By September TEDA was hosting business resource workshops. In October the organization brought an international forum to Houma during which companies from Norway set in motion their intentions to open sites in Terrebonne Parish.

By November, plans were in motion to begin a mentoring and investment program between established corporations and start-up businesses. November also saw a long-standing rift between TEDA and the South Louisiana Economic Council come to an end as the two groups re-established a working relationship.

“Reorganization is essential if we want TEDA to be the leading economic development authority in Louisiana,” Vassallo said on Dec. 13. “We need to move in a new direction … be proactive rather than reactive … [and] make the public aware of our goals. … Next year has the potential of being a banner year for TEDA.”

As for 2011, TEDA became the top business news story of the year and the additional nine secured their places for a multitude of reasons. It is yet to be known which group might return at the end of 2012, and what factors place them among the top business news stories of the year.

Industry insiders say the shrimp season has been the worst they have ever experienced. While seafood fishermen and processors continued their fight for survival in 2011, other areas of commerce have seen gains and anticipate opportunities. MIKE NIXON