The company has announced that over the next five to seven years, these projects along with others included in its U.S. Gulf Coast investment plan, will support more than 35,000 jobs. Collectively, Dow expects the new Performance Plastics facilities will employ up to 3,000 workers at peak construction.

“Dow is currently exploring specific locations on the U.S. Gulf Coast, with final investment locations to be determined at a later date,” says Dow spokesperson Nancy Lamb. “We have been studying these options for some time. The new facilities are in the Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) phase, which is targeted for completion in 2014. More information will be shared as soon as it becomes available.”

Those FEED stage facilities will manufacture materials for several of Dow’s market segments, including packaging; hygiene and medical; electrical and telecommunications; transportation, sports and leisure; and consumer durables.

Dow will also be taking advantage of export opportunities tied to these new facilities in the next decade.

As part of its Gulf Coast investment strategy, Dow has several other projects that are moving forward:

• Construction on a new propylene production facility at Dow Texas Operations began in January 2013, and the project is on track towards a scheduled start-up in 2015.
• Planned construction of a new ethylene facility at Dow Texas Operations is on track. The company’s Board of Directors has already authorized capital and the purchase of equipment for the facility. This facility will tie with a new joint venture with Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd., and Mitsui & Co., Ltd., to build and construct a Linear Alpha Olefins unit, which will utilize ethylene from the Dow facility.
• Improvements for ethane feedstock flexibility and increase ethylene supply at the Louisiana Operations site in Plaquemine, La. in 2015 are progressing on schedule.