McDaneld says the benefits of the Zone include exemption on the state’s portion of sales taxes on the purchase of any building materials that will be permanently incorporated in the real estate. 

McDaneld notes while the 220 construction workers involved in the initial phases of the project have completed their work, the two new phases will result in more employment.  “With the expansion, it will allow them to hire through the company a couple of full time employment positions.  That will bring them up to about 12 full time employees at the facility working for the company.  Those initial jobs aren’t there anymore, but they were for quite awhile and now they are going to bring about 60 of the construction jobs back,” McDaneld explained. 

McDaneld says once the final two phases are complete the company will have made a total investment of well over 164-million dollars at the Patoka Tank Farm.   “Initially it was just going to be a couple of tanks, but the cost savings has allowed them to think about their overall plan and they have been able to do their additions to their company here in this area versus somewhere in Louisiana or somewhere else just because the investment is more cost effective to do here through the zone,” McDaneld explained.

McDaneld reports there is a ripple effect of the investment have been felt throughout the county and state.  In addition to the construction jobs, Plains has awarded over 15.5-million dollars to local businesses for services such as drilling, general construction, and office buildings. 

McDaneld says having the opportunity and the tools to effectively assist a large company such as Plains navigate through a program such as the Enterprise Zone  to show them it is more cost effective to invest in our area is very rewarding.   She notes the Enterprise Zone program, in  this instance, does not allow the company an abatement on property taxes.