GEISMAR, La. -- BASF is building a formic acid production plant in Louisiana's Ascension Parish that will create 20 new jobs.
Gov. Bobby Jindal and company executives were at the groundbreaking Tuesday, at the company's 2,600-acre complex in Geismar, which is home to nearly two dozen chemical plants.
The New Jersey-based company says the new facility is expected to be complete by mid-2014. Formic acid is used in animal feed preservatives, roads and runway de-icing and household and industrial cleaning products.
The new plant is part of a series of expansions at the Ascension Parish site, with new BASF facilities added in 2011 and under construction.
Incentives for the latest project include a $1.7 million Modernization Tax Credit paid over five years, plus tax breaks through the Enterprise Zone and Industrial Tax Exemption programs.