Louisiana’s Epic Piping, Grön Fuels Earn National CiCi Awards

BATON ROUGE, La. — Trade & Industry Development magazine has honored a pair of Louisiana economic development projects with national CiCi Awards, which annually recognize the top community impact and corporate investment projects.

Epic Piping’s pipe fabrication facility in Lake Providence earned a CiCi Award in the community impact category, while the Grön Fuels renewable energy project planned at the Port of Greater Baton Rouge earned a CiCi Award for corporate investment.

Trade & Industry Development selected 15 winners in each category, for a total of 30 award-winning projects nationwide. Louisiana Economic Development estimates the two Louisiana projects could produce more than 5,700 new jobs and over $9 billion in new capital investment during the next decade.

“Each time we attract new capital investment and new jobs to a community, we are building a more vibrant Louisiana economy,” said LED Secretary Don Pierson. “This CiCi Award recognition underscores the important diversity of the work that we undertake, in that one project is making a genuine impact in a rural Louisiana community while the other represents an innovative investment for a metro area. Both Epic Piping and Grön Fuels are utilizing Louisiana’s port assets, which are great infrastructure strengths in helping us advance the state’s economy.”

Located at the Port of Lake Providence in East Carroll Parish, Epic Piping’s facility is affiliated with the Baton Rouge-based company’s advanced pipe fabrication facility in Livingston Parish. In manufacturing pipe supports for the Livingston site and other Epic Piping operations, the 40,000-square-foot facility in Lake Providence extends the company’s operations to a new state market, where Epic Piping is leveraging welding program instruction at Louisiana Delta Community College to help staff 50 jobs at the Lake Providence site. LED estimates the project is resulting in an additional 79 new indirect jobs, for a total of 129 new jobs in East Carroll Parish and surrounding areas.

In Port Allen, Grön Fuels announced plans for a renewable fuels complex at the Port of Greater Baton Rouge, where the company has leased 141 acres to develop a multi-phased refinery project converting plant- and animal-based feedstocks into renewable diesel and related products. The company expects to make a final investment decision in 2021 for the first phase, a 60,000-barrels-per-day refinery. Over multiple phases in the next decade, Grön Fuels could generate $9.2 billion in total capital investment, with 1,025 new direct jobs. LED estimates all phases would result in another 4,560 new indirect jobs.

This is the 15^th year Trade & Industry Development magazine has honored projects across the U.S. that position the communities where they’re located for greater growth and prosperity, through extensive investment, job creation and broad economic impact. Due to COVID-19, the 2021 CiCi Awards recognize projects announced in both 2019 and 2020.

“We received hundreds of nominations for our CiCi Awards, and each one represented a bright spot in a difficult and challenging year,” said Trade & Industry Development Publisher Scott Swoger. “We read each one carefully in our effort to single out 30 winning projects, but all of them had admirable merit. Our final winner’s list is an excellent mix of high-achieving projects at major international corporations, as well as smaller, local companies. By deciding to locate or expand in a certain area, these companies, and the economic development agencies that guided the projects, helped to shape the community and the economies where they’re located.”

For a complete list of CiCi Award-winners, visit TradeAndIndustryDev.com.

About Trade & Industry Development
Produced four times a year, Trade & Industry Development is dedicated to site selection in a vertical format. As the only publication of its kind, T&ID reaches more decision-makers per industry than any other publication dealing with site selection. Editorial content, in the magazine, online at TradeAndIndustryDev.com, and through targeted newsletters, is geared to executive decision-makers with pertinent, useful site selection and business knowledge for their market. T&ID also has extensive digital marketing and integrated marketing capabilities.

About LED
Louisiana Economic Development is responsible for strengthening the state’s business environment and creating a more vibrant Louisiana economy. LED cultivates jobs and economic opportunity for the people of Louisiana, and promotes business opportunity for employers of all sizes. For more information, visit OpportunityLouisiana.com.

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