Burge retiring from USM

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Cecil Burge is retiring as the University of Southern Mississippi's vice president of research and economic development, effective Dec. 31. A national search for a successor will begin later this fall. Burge has been with Southern Miss for nearly 40 years. During his tenure, external funding topped $100 million for the first time in school history in fiscal year 2007, including $15 million in composites research. (Source: Hattiesburg American, 09/03/09)

Chemical plant to settle penalties

PASCAGOULA, Miss. - First Chemical will pay the federal government $731,000 in civil penalties for an October 2002 explosion at the company's plant on Bayou Cassotte that was caused by a chemical reaction. The company also agreed to correct violations of the Clean Air Act. Safety experts have implemented safeguards and systems across the entire site to prevent similar incidents. (Source: Mississippi Press, 08/21/09)

County OKs $13.5M for Thyssen

MOBILE, Ala. - The Mobile County Commission agreed to pay another $13.5 million in ThyssenKrupp AG incentives. The county already paid $70 million to lure the $4.65 billion German steel complex near Calvert, part of $314 million in cash state and local governments pledged to ThyssenKrupp. The additional $13.5 million was to be paid by the county along with other local governments that joined a consortium. The consortium was created, but members haven't chipped in, leaving the county to pay the promised money. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 08/11/09)

BASE, Ciba integration to cost $1.5B

BASF SE, the chemical group that bought the former Ciba Holding AG earlier this year, said it will cost some $1.48 billion to integrate the two operations. The German company plans to cut 40 percent of Ciba workers it inherited and sell or close 23 of 55 former Ciba plants worldwide. The former Ciba plant in McIntosh, Ala., is not one of the 23 plants to be closed or sold. It has 492 employees. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 07/31/09)

ACCA a game-changer for plane-makers?

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio – The Air Force Research Laboratory and Lockheed Martin had a demonstration flight of the Advanced Composite Cargo Aircraft June 2 at Palmdale, Calif. The ACCA is a modified Dornier 328J with the fuselage aft of the crew station and the vertical tail removed and replaced with new structural designs made of advanced composite materials fabricated using out-of-autoclave curing. The ACCA program manager said the program has the potential of changing aircraft manufacturing. (Source: AFNS, 06/03/09) Gulf Coast note: South Mississippi has a national known advanced materials research program; the National Center for Advanced Manufacturing is located in New Orleans; unmanned aerial systems are built in Moss Point, Miss.; EADS hopes to assemble tankers and cargo planes in Mobile, Ala.

Chevron eyes $400M investment

PASCAGOULA, Miss. - Chevron pledged $400 million in capital investments and 60 new jobs at its Pascagoula refinery in an agreement approved by the Jackson County Board of Supervisors. The memorandum of understanding is part of an effort to win economic-development grants to widen Mississippi 611 and build a bridge over U.S. 90 and the CSX railroad to ease traffic congestion. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 06/02/09)

TK may delay plant work

MOBILE, Ala. - ThyssenKrupp may put off construction and startup of the carbon steel portion of the $4.65 billion complex being built in Calvert because of decreasing steel demand. A decision could come in the next few weeks, said Erwin Schneider, a spokesman for the German steelmaker. A delay could run three to six months, he said, and would slow construction. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 05/13/09)

DuPont DeLisle safe from cuts

DeLISLE, Miss. – The DuPont plant here will not be impacted by the company’s plan to cut 2,000 jobs in the face of falling orders from the manufacturing sector, according to the plant manager. The DeLisle plant makes titanium dioxide and has 523 DuPont workers and 120 contractors. (Source: AP and The Sun Herald, 05/08/09)

Feature: MAC

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. - MAC LLC may be a young company, but it's already part of a select group of some two dozen contractors nationwide working on technologies the Department of Defense considers critical for national security. In this case, it's lightweight, small-caliber ammunition that will not only allow troops to carry more into battle, but also has a higher muzzle velocity and is more accurate than conventional rounds. (Source: Alliance Insight, April 2009)

Feature: Ablitech

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - When National Science Foundation reviewers approved a $100,000 grant for a startup company in Hattiesburg, reviewers made an interesting comment. "This is very risky but very exciting research," said the NSF reviewers, "and has the potential to be a game-changing cancer therapy." Ablitech combines experts in polymer research and medicinal chemistry to come up with radical products. The latest effort: Ablitech thinks it's found a way to deliver a known cancer killer to the target and protect it from being broken down by the body's enzymes. (Source: Alliance Insight, April 2009)

BASF completes Ciba takeover

German chemical conglomerate BASF completed its takeover of Ciba Holding AG, including the 525-employee Ciba plant in McIntosh, Ala. BASF paid about $3 billion in cash and assumed about $2 billion in debt from the Swiss chemical maker. The McIntosh plant opened in 1952 as Ciba-Geigy and produces plastics additives used in the automotive industry, chemicals for coatings and paper treatment. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 04/14/09)

LNG terminals OKd

The Coast Guard issued letters Friday indicating that coastal waters in Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas would be suitable for eight proposed liquefied natural gas facilities. Two of them, Chevron's Casotte Landing LNG and Gulf LNG Energy's terminal, are planned in Pascagoula. The letters of recommendation are required by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. (Source: Mississippi Press, 04/11/09)

Solutia sells nylon business

Solutia Inc. said it will sell its nylon business, including plants in Foley, Ala., and Pensacola, Fla., to buyout firm SK Capital Partners for $54 million. The deal could close as soon as April 30. Solutia employs about 68 people at its plant in Foley, which processes and packages nylon fibers and resins made at the larger Pensacola facility, which employs 700. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 04/02/09)

Company delays terminal work

MOBILE, Ala. - ThyssenKrupp will delay building part of the river terminal that will unload barges at its plant site in Calvert. The company has been looking for ways to save money or delay spending on the $4.65 billion complex as part of larger corporate cost cutting. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 03/26/09)

Plastics company trims workforce

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. - SABIC Innovative Plastics has laid off more than a third of its employees in Hancock County. The company, which makes parts for the automobile, electronics and housing industries, let go 45 workers. Officials said the company asked employees to help find ways to trim costs, but the worsening economy led to the layoffs. (Source: WLOX-TV, 03/05/09)

Steel terminal ahead of schedule

MOBILE, Ala. - The Pinto Island steel terminal being built for ThyssenKrupp is ahead of schedule. But it could cost a few million dollars over a $115 million budget due to rising materials costs. The terminal is set for completion by October. About 200 contractors are building the terminal. The company is building its mill site in north Mobile County. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 02/20/09)

Chevron delays expansion

PASCAGOULA, Miss. - Chevron Corp. has delayed plans to build a plant at its Pascagoula refinery to test a process that could boost the yields of products refined from heavy oil. Construction on the plant was to begin this year. Chevron says it will review the project in 2010. The facility was to have a daily capacity of 3,500 barrels. (Source: AP, 02/04/09)

Steel unit to delay opening

MOBILE, Ala. - ThyssenKrupp AG will delay its stainless steel operation at Calvert for about a year as part of a companywide effort to save cash in the recession. No delays are planned for the larger carbon steel unit, which should begin processing steel in March 2010. The company has said that carbon steel will be more than 70 percent of the total output at the $4.6 billion facility. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 01/24/09)

Nano symposium leads to award

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Hybrid Plastics Inc., together with the local Area Development Partnership and Mississippi's Manufacturing Extension Partnership, won the 2008 Best Special Event Award for the Advanced Nanomaterials Symposium from the International Economic Development Council. The conference held in Hattiesburg won for excellence in economic development for a community with a population between 50,000 and 200,000. (Source: Hybrid Plastics, 01/20/09)

Albemarle sells plant in France

BATON ROUGE, La. - Albemarle Corp. has sold a flame retardant manufacturing plant in France. Albemarle Chairman Mark Rohr had predicted in October that the sale of the plant in Port-de-Bouc, near Marseille, to Azur Chimie SAS would result in a $25 million pretax charge. Albemarle had acquired the Port-de-Bouc plant in 2000 when it bought the Pyro-Chek flame retardant business of Ferro Corp. (Source: Baton Rouge Advocate, 01/03/09)