The TJC Group

Thank you Louisiana Economic Development for capturing the transformation Hyundai-Posco Louisiana Steel is creating on the West Bank of Parish of Ascension. The TJC Group is honored to be on the team.

https://www.facebook.com/share/14eXA6k1Lqo/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Where does The TJC Group operate? Anywhere our clients need us to be.

Just last week, our firm divided and conquered to deliver for our clients in major ways.

🔋 We planned and managed a groundbreaking ceremony for Capchem’s new plant in Ironton, Ohio. This plant will produce battery electrolytes and other products for electric vehicle supply chains.

👨‍🌾 CHS and OCP announced their joint venture facility at Cornerstone Energy Park in Jefferson Parish, bringing the first phosphate fertilizer manufacturing facility built in the US since 1984.

👥 We hosted and professionally facilitated the East Iberville Community Advisory Panel meeting and the Baton Rouge Police Department’s Chief’s Advisory Council meeting.

🏠 We planned and managed an open house for Hyundai-Posco Louisiana Steel, giving the local community another opportunity to engage and learn more about the project in Donaldsonville / West Ascension.

🚐 We facilitated the launch of Louisiana Works’ (Louisiana Workforce Commission) statewide roadshow in Monroe and Shreveport.

A new week brings new opportunities for us to continue the work of building knowledge, understanding, trust, and goodwill.

CALL TO ACTION: Hyundai-Posco Louisiana Steel’s LDEQ Air Permit Hearing is tomorrow (Tuesday) at 6:00 PM at the Lemann Center in Donaldsonville. For years, those of us who earn our living directly or indirectly from industry or otherwise support industry have watched quietly as out of state funded anti-industry activists from all over the country have dominated these public hearings with their “anti-everything, industry is awful” rhetoric. They have had some success slowing projects but their biggest success is driving up the cost of doing business and increasing the risk profile for responsible investment. There isn’t a single person who supports investment in our state who doesn’t want to hold industry to high standards and accountability. But that’s not the anti’s goal.

If you care about responsible investment in our state, job creation, community engagement, and economic growth that can lift our neighbors out of generational poverty, then show up tomorrow night and take one minute to voice your support for this transformational project in West Ascension. It’s important!

West Ascension Business & Industry Alliance
Donaldsonville Area Chamber of Commerce
Ascension Chamber of Commerce
Iberville Chamber of Commerce
West Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce
Greater Baton Rouge Economic Partnership
Louisiana Chemistry Association
Greater Baton Rouge Industry Alliance (GBRIA)
River Region Chamber of Commerce
Pelican Chapter, Associated Builders and Contractors
Louisiana Agc /Association
Industry Makes.
Parish of Ascension
Gordy Rush

What an honor for our team to be considered as one of three finalists for the Small to Mid-Sized Business of the Year in the Baton Rouge Business Report’s Louisiana Energy Awards.

Meet the 2026 Louisiana Energy Awards honorees and finalists 10/12 Industry Report today named the honorees and finalists for its second annual Louisiana Energy Awards, which will be presented Nov. 18 at L'Auberge Casino Hotel in Baton Rouge. Two honorees ha… Already an INSIDER? Sign in. Already an INSIDER? Sign in

What an honor for our team to be considered as one of three finalists for the Small to Medium Size Business of the Year in the Baton Rouge Business Report’s Louisiana Energy Awards.

https://www.businessreport.com/article/meet-the-2026-louisiana-energy-awards-honorees-and-finalists

The foundation of any economy has to be value added manufacturing. That is especially true in Louisiana. It has been for 100 years. Value added manufacturing creates thousands of high paying direct jobs in our state. That payroll turns over in our economy multiple times. Retail does better. Housing does better. Service industries do better. The local resturant that employs 10 people survives because of it.

Industry pays more than 80% of the property tax in the river region parishes. What that means is, industry pays the salaries of 8 of 10 teachers, 8 of 10 police officers and sheriff’s deputies, 8 out of 10 miles of paved parish roads, 8 out of 10 sanitation workers, 8 out of 10 parks, 8 out of 10 homeless shelters, and 8 out of 10 fire trucks, 8 out of 10 parish EMTs - you get the idea, but think about that. How much greater would everyone’s personal tax burden be without industry or would we just accept fewer services?

Our state is blessed with lots of oil and natural gas, with the Gulf of Mexico (or America), and the Mississippi River. We are an energy and chemistry provider to the US and the rest of the world. That is value added manufacturing at its finest.

We should hold every single industrial facility’s leadership accountable for responsible operations - protecting the environment and our health, for safety and incident prevention, for local hiring and purchasing, and for being engaged in their communities. I’ve worked with the chemistry, refining, and steel making heavy industries for 35 years. I can say that the industry in Louisiana is responsible. It is cleaner, safer, and more engaged with its communities than ever before. Louisiana industry leads the world in these spaces. I have met thousands of industry leaders in Louisiana over the years and can honestly say that I’ve never met one who didn’t care about the environment or the community where they operated.

And let me address NDA’s and the associated but not always stated allegations of “corruption.” “If you ask for an NDA as a corporation, you must be evil and if you sign one as an elected official, you must be corrupt.” NDAs are a daily part of business. They protect proprietary technology, proprietary financial information, proprietary plans, and yes, for competitive reasons, economic development/incentive offers. We don’t want Texas and Mississippi and Alabama and Florida to know what incentive offers we are making to prospective investors in Louisiana. Corporations have too much at stake to let this kind of information out and too much at stake to engage in corruption and illegal activity. NDAs simply protect proprietary and critical information. We can stop them in Louisiana, but we will see our neighboring states get all the investment because companies simply won’t come here. We elect individuals to lead and we should trust them to do that until they prove to us that we shouldn’t. If you still can’t accept that, you should vote against them but you shouldn’t automatically disparage the character of people you don’t know and have never met.

Multiple things can be true at the same time. We can grow our economy, attract responsible investment, create jobs and opportunity to lift our neighbors out of poverty, increase tax revenue that provides critical government services, protect communities, respect history and culture, and address legitimate concerns.

I ask an honest question of the out of state funded “we are against everything” organizations. What is your plan to grow the economy, provide opportunity and lift our neighbors out of poverty? It’s easy to be against everything. What are you for?

Gordy Rush and I sat down with my friend C Scott Loren & Associates on the Louisiana Business & Industry Show!