Senator Landrieu Visits Dow Louisiana Operations

Louisiana - April 10, 2007

U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu visited Dow’s Louisiana Operations recently to meet with Political Action Committee members from its Louisiana Operations in Plaquemine, St. Charles Operations near Hahnville and Grand Bayou Operations near Napoleonville on the issues currently affecting Dow in Louisiana. After meeting with the committee members, Senator Landrieu spoke to members of the Alliance to Save Energy (ASE), state and local elected officials about sustainable national energy policy and the high price of energy in Louisiana among other issues.

Louisiana Operations Site Leader Lee Trusty opened the Political Action Committee meeting welcoming Landrieu to Dow and gave a brief overview of Dow’s investments in Louisiana – five locations across the state. Trusty stressed that Dow is one of the largest petrochemical company in the state with a good track record of energy use reduction as recognized by ASE’s Galaxy Award and the U.S. Department of Energy Conservation Assessments. The high cost of energy and the state’s tax on natural gas, however, is jeopardizing Dow Louisiana’s ability to stay competitive and maintain growth. Trusty thanked Landrieu for her leadership in the OCS (Outer Continental Shelf) bill passage last year allowing drilling for natural gas in the Gulf of Mexico. Dow’s St. Charles Operations Site Leader Nawzer Parakh also welcomed Senator Landrieu to Louisiana and echoed Trusty's sentiments on her efforts for industry in the state.

“Dow, its sister and brother organizations in the country and the users of natural gas literally helped pass the most important piece of legislation that has ever passed Congress on behalf of our state or the Gulf Coast,” Senator Landrieu said. That is the bill (OCS bill passage) that is going to provide access to 8.3 million new acres of drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. The first time in 25 years that we have pushed passed a moratorium that had been levied on all drilling on all of the continental shelf.”

Landrieu stressed the importance of producing energy here in the state to drive down the price of natural gas and reduce the nation’s dependence on imported energy. She stressed that low energy cost was one of the main reasons why large industry began operations in the region.

“I think it makes a lot of sense to drill and explore here in our own natural gas resources. It is one of the reasons why Dow is here, because energy was cheap, water was plentiful, workers were plentiful, so companies in the 1960's starting flocking here and started this corridor,” commented Landrieu. “We want to sustain that growth…but we have to get access to that gas, and have to keep taxes reasonable and education standards up so we can continue to build.”

Landrieu then addressed the Political Action Committee members followed by a question and answer session. She spoke about the importance of Dow and its investments to the state. Landrieu thanked Dow and its employees for their tremendous outreach following Hurricane Katrina, the $3 million contribution toward the response and rebuilding efforts, and urged employees to continue with their volunteer efforts.

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For Editorial Information:

Gary Cambre
The Dow Chemical Company
(225) 353-8265