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• Methanex plant is latest La. petrochemical investment
  Methanex will begin building a methanol plant in Geismar, La. -- where BASF, Shell and Momentive also operate plants. The state boasts skilled workers, efficient industrial transportation and competitive capital costs, said Gary Rowan, vice president for corporate development at Methanex. Louisiana is moving to "position itself as the destination of choice for major, downstream projects that will utilize natural gas as a fuel and a feedstock," said state Economic Development Secretary Stephen Moret. The Times-Picayune (New Orleans) (11/23)     

• Learn more from ACC about how new investments in shale gas are contributing to the growth of Louisiana's economy      

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• Persian Gulf producers eye shift to value-added chemicals
  Middle East petrochemical producers are facing a battle against U.S. firms to secure natural gas feedstock, said Abdulwahab Al-Sadoun, secretary general of the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association. To address the trend, producers in the Gulf region are moving toward value-added materials such as performance polymers and engineering plastics. "[W]e need further investment in innovation and more training of the local workforce tasked with guiding the industry through the next phase of its development," Al-Sadoun said. ICIS News (U.K.) (11/23), ICIS News (U.K.) (11/22)     

• PPG-Georgia Gulf deal on pace to become final in early 2013
  PPG Industries expects early next year to finalize the merger of its spun-off commodity chemicals business with Georgia Gulf. "We believe low-cost natural gas in North America will remain globally advantaged as a source of energy. We expect this to place the Gulf Coast chloro-vinyls producers in a strong position to supply domestic and export customers," said Georgia Gulf President and CEO Paul Carrico. The merger "will create a chemicals and building products leader that is well positioned to benefit from this cost advantage and expanding global demand for our products," Carrico added. The Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register (Wheeling, W.Va.) (11/24)     

• Other News

• ECHA offers document to aid REACH risk assessments
  ChemicalWatch.com (free content) (11/22)     

• EPA advisory panel to review "computational toxicology" mechanism
  InsideEPA.com (subscription required) (11/21)     

• Chemistry's role in reducing building emissions
  Improvements in insulation and roof coatings can achieve as much as a 70% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from buildings in North America, Europe and Japan, according to the International Council of Chemical Associations. "Between now and 2050, you could save about 600 million tons of CO₂ equivalent a year. The savings potential in the buildings sector is huge and something governments can control," said Russel Mills, global climate director at Dow Chemical. Bloomberg (11/22)     

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• 4 ways leaders can foster innovation
  There are plenty of ways for bosses to foster innovation, writes Scott Edinger, but the best techniques all focus on building a companywide culture rather than on recognizing and rewarding a handful of creative superstars. "A culture where innovation thrives in every corner is exponentially more valuable than a culture which anoints one or even a few people as 'the innovative ones,' " Edinger writes. Forbes (11/20)     

• More immigration means more innovation, researcher says
  A quarter of all U.S. startups, and more than half of those in Silicon Valley, were started by immigrants from 1995 to 2005. However, a shortage of H1-B visas for science, engineering and computer researchers is threatening that trend, says innovation researcher Vivek Wadhwa. "The reality is, if we just fix that one issue about the numbers of visas, the problem would likely fix itself. It's that simple," he says. Knowledge@Wharton (11/20)     

• International Council of Chemical Associations highlights energy efficiency solutions made possible by chemistry at COP-18
  At the 18th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the International Council of Chemical Associations will highlight the important role products from the global chemical industry play in achieving substantial energy and greenhouse gas reductions for the buildings sector.
  
  "Chemistry plays a central role in climate mitigation both in terms of cost efficient reductions in energy consumption as well as providing technologies to decarbonise energy production, thus further reducing GHG emissions," said Russel Mills, global director, energy and climate change policy, Dow Chemical, and vice chairman of the ICCA Energy and Climate Leadership Group. "By the middle of this century, the cumulative net GHG savings in Europe, Japan and the United States from the use of chemically based building products could be 30 billion tonnes of CO₂ equivalents. This is an average annual savings of 600 MtCO2e -- equivalent to the emissions from the annual electricity use of 75 million homes," Mills said. Read the full news release.     

Top five news stories selected by ACC SmartBrief readers in the past week.

• Dow Chemical exec speaks to shale's boost to petrochemicals (National Public Radio)

• Momentive furloughs 200 N.Y. workers, cites "unfavorable" economy (American City Business Journals)

• ACC: Expand efforts to improve IRIS process (Bloomberg BNA (free content))

• Chemical shippers often have few choices for rail (The Des Moines Register (Iowa))

• EPA selects David Allen to chair its Science Advisory Board (ChemicalWatch.com (free content))

• Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.

The passion for setting people right is in itself an afflictive disease." --Marianne Moore, American poet and writer