Shintech's welcome

Iberville Parish greeted the recent announcement of the area's largest new plastics plant with a pep rally a far cry from the icy reception that same company, Shintech, got in St. James Parish in 1996.

Local and state officials helped Shintech put on nothing less than a celebration in January, a public relations coup for a plant that will produce significant air pollution while churning out PVC. Everyone at the press conference, from Gov. Kathleen Blanco to the parish president, spoke in glowing, hopeful terms of new jobs and progress.

"This is a statement to the state, nation and to the world that we wanted this investment," Iberville Parish President J. Mitchell Ourso Jr. declared, likening landing the new plant to winning the lottery. The Plaquemine Post South newspaper summed it up in a gushy headline: "Officials rejoice."

Formal opposition has been scant. There was a mysterious postcard campaign featuring a mushroom cloud and the headline "Iberville is in danger." And there were some well-financed telemarketing campaigns with a recorded voice warning residents about the new plant. Still, support has drowned out the opposition.

"I've talked to a lot of people about it, I even went house-to-house. I'd say 95% of the people were for it," says lberville Parish Councilman Thomas Dominique Sr., whose district will be home to Shintech's new plant.

Nine years ago, when Shintech announced plans to build a similar plant in St. James...