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  • Why Meta and Amazon Are Betting Billions on Louisiana

    Why Meta and Amazon Are Betting Billions on Louisiana
    2026/06/29
    Meta. Amazon. Billions in data center investment. And the #1 factor they all named for picking Louisiana? Access to energy. Dr. Greg Upton runs the brand-new LSU Energy Institute (formerly the LSU Center for Energy Studies)

    — and there is no one more locked into Louisiana's energy economy, past, present, and future. In this conversation, Greg breaks down:
    — Why LSU rebuilt the Center for Energy Studies into the Energy Institute
    — Why almost every job in Louisiana — even the ones that look nothing like "energy"
    — depends on this industry
    — The real reason Meta, Amazon, and other tech giants are choosing Louisiana for data centers
    — Why energy companies don't think "clean vs. dirty"
    — they think "molecules vs. electrons"
    — How Iran and the Russian invasion of Ukraine moved oil prices over $140 a barrel
    — and why the economy bounced back faster than anyone expected
    — The energy myth 70-80% of people get wrong (and what it means for Louisiana's future)

    Subscribe to the Louisiana Business and Industry Show: [https://www.youtube.com/@LouisianaBusinessandIndustrySh/videos
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    23 分
  • How Out-of-State Money Ends Up on Your Neighbor's Yard Sign

    How Out-of-State Money Ends Up on Your Neighbor's Yard Sign
    2026/06/09
    That anti-industry yard sign down the street didn't start in your parish. According to this week's guest, you can trace the money behind it all the way out of Louisiana.

    Desiree Lemoine spent 11 years at the Louisiana Chemical Association before helping launch Industry Makes, an organization built to give Louisiana's manufacturing workers and the small businesses that depend on them a voice at the local level.

    Hosts Gordy Rush and Tim Johnson sit down with her to trace how out-of-state money ends up funding local activists, why the gas station on your corner depends on the plant down the road, and the roughly $935,000 one parish spent just defending its right to bring in new investment.

    ▶ SUBSCRIBE to the Louisiana Business and Industry Show for new conversations with the people shaping Louisiana's economy: https://www.youtube.com/@LouisianaBusinessandIndustrySh
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    20 分
  • Outsiders keep flying in to kill Louisiana's $100K jobs

    Outsiders keep flying in to kill Louisiana's $100K jobs
    2026/06/01
    Industry pays 70% of St. John the Baptist Parish's budget: the schools, the roads, the police force. So why are people from outside the parish spending real money to shut it down?

    Jaclyn Hotard, President of St. John the Baptist Parish, has spent 35+ years around Louisiana industry and has been dragged through both federal and local court for defending it. She isn't backing down.

    In this conversation, she breaks down how a St. John student can walk out of high school, do one year at River Parishes Community College, and earn $100,000 a year and why she says paid special interests fight to kill the very projects that make those jobs possible. Her line: responsible growth and responsible industry aren't a choice between two things. They're the same thing.

    ► Subscribe for a new Louisiana business leader every week:
    https://www.youtube.com/ ⁨@LouisianaBusinessandIndustrySh⁩

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    25 分
  • They've Been Lying About Cancer Alley for 40 Years. Here's the Proof.

    They've Been Lying About Cancer Alley for 40 Years. Here's the Proof.
    2026/05/25
    Ascension Parish, the most heavily industrialized parish in Louisiana, just ranked #1 healthiest in the entire state. So why has the Cancer Alley narrative dominated Louisiana for 40 years?

    David Cresson, President of the Louisiana Chemistry Association, sits down with Gordy Rush and Tim Johnson to set the record straight with data from the CDC, the National Cancer Institute, and the Robert Wood Johnson County Health Rankings.

    In this episode:
    → Why does the data not support the Cancer Alley narrative
    → What louisianahealthfacts.com actually shows
    → Carbon capture, what it is, what it looks like, and why Louisiana is falling behind Texas
    → Why David Cresson left 18 years at CCA to lead the Louisiana Chemistry Association
    → How LCA is building local community relationships across every parish in the state
    Subscribe so you never miss a Louisiana business conversation that actually matters.

    CHAPTERS: 0:00 - Introduction 1:30 - Who is David Cresson? 5:00 - Leading the Louisiana Chemistry Association 9:00 - The rebrand and new office 13:00 - Carbon capture explained 18:00 - Local community engagement strategy 22:00 - Cancer Alley — what the data actually says 27:00 - louisianahealthfacts.com breakdown
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    29 分
  • 300,000 Louisiana Families Depend on This Industry. This Man Defends It Every Day.

    300,000 Louisiana Families Depend on This Industry. This Man Defends It Every Day.
    2026/05/19
    300,000 Louisiana families go to work every day because of the oil and gas industry. Tommy Faucheux is the man making sure that doesn't change. Tommy is the President of the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association (LaMoga), the organization representing every major energy company operating in Louisiana, from Chevron and Shell to Valero, Phillips 66, and the LNG exporters powering Europe's energy supply. In this episode, Tommy breaks down why Louisiana's energy industry doesn't just matter to Louisiana; it matters to the entire country and the world. In this episode:
    • Why 300,000 Louisiana jobs depend on the oil and gas industry surviving
    • How Louisiana LNG exports kept Europe from collapsing during the Russia-Ukraine war
    • What CCUS really means for rural Louisiana communities
    • The outside groups are trying to shut down the Louisiana industry, and they've never even been here
    • What's happening right now at the Louisiana legislature that every business owner needs to know
    Listen every week on the Louisiana Business and Industry Show hosted by Gordy Rush and Tim Johnson.
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    28 分
  • Louisiana's Most Influential Voice You've Never Heard Of.

    Louisiana's Most Influential Voice You've Never Heard Of.
    2026/05/11
    For more than 30 years, Barry Erwin has been one of the most influential voices in Louisiana policy, and most people have never heard of him.

    As Chief Policy Officer for Leaders for a Better Louisiana (the merger of CABLE and the Committee of 100), Barry is at the center of the state's biggest challenges: workforce development, K-12 education, economic growth, and building a Louisiana that keeps its talent instead of losing it.

    In this episode, Gordy Rush and Tim Johnson sit down with Barry to talk about:
    • The creation of the Louisiana Talent Accelerator and why it matters
    • Louisiana's K-12 miracle, 4th-grade reading gains are getting national attention
    • The high-dosage tutoring program that other states are now copying
    • Why Louisiana copied Mississippi on workforce, and why that was the right call
    • The data initiative that could change how Louisiana measures its own progress
    • What it really takes to move policy in a state that's resistant to change
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    22 分
  • Baton Rouge had 9.4M visitors last year. Nobody noticed.

    Baton Rouge had 9.4M visitors last year. Nobody noticed.
    2026/05/04
    In this episode of the Louisiana Business & Industry Show, Gordy Rush and Tim Johnson sit down with Jill Kidder, President and CEO of Visit Baton Rouge, to discuss one of the most underrated economic engines in Louisiana: tourism, a $1.3 billion industry supporting over 42,000 jobs in East Baton Rouge Parish alone.

    Jill breaks down how Visit Baton Rouge attracts millions of visitors to the capital city, from major conventions and youth sports tournaments to the bowling congress that brought 150,000 people through Baton Rouge in a single season. She explains why tourism is the first step in the economic development cycle, how Baton Rouge quietly earned its first listings in the Michelin Guide, and why sports tourism is the fastest-growing opportunity for the region.

    The conversation also covers the exciting developments on the horizon, including the redevelopment of the River Center, the new Sports Illustrated hotel coming downtown, and a bold plan to turn Baton Rouge back toward the Mississippi River as its front porch. If you care about the future of business, growth, and quality of life in Louisiana, this conversation is one you do not want to miss.

    Subscribe, like, and comment to help us spread the word about the future of Louisiana business.
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    28 分
  • The College in Louisiana That's Pulling People Out of Poverty. One Skill at a Time.

    The College in Louisiana That's Pulling People Out of Poverty. One Skill at a Time.
    2026/04/20
    In this episode of the Louisiana Business & Industry Show, Gordy Rush and Tim Johnson sit down with Dr. Quentin Taylor, Chancellor of River Parishes Community College, to discuss one of the most important workforce stories in Louisiana right now, a community college at the epicenter of the state's industrial explosion.

    Dr. Taylor breaks down how RPCC has doubled enrollment and graduation rates since 2022, what the landmark Hyundai Steel RPCC Training Center in Donaldsonville means for workers up and down the Mississippi River corridor, and why 70% of Louisiana's jobs require an associate degree or less, not a four-year diploma. He also shares his deeply personal mission to break the cycle of generational poverty through workforce education and why the River Parishes may be the most important economic development story in the entire state.

    The conversation also covers RPCC's growing industry partnerships with Hyundai, CF Industries, and Ascension Clean Energy, how the college is positioning itself as Louisiana's premier workforce solution, and what business leaders and parents need to know about the opportunities right at their doorstep.

    If you care about the future of Louisiana's economy, workforce development, and the communities being transformed by industrial growth, this conversation is one you do not want to miss.

    Subscribe and turn on notifications for new episodes every week with the leaders shaping Louisiana's future.
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    27 分