Halliburton's Multi-Chem is moving forward with a new facility in Vermilion parish, despite protests from area residents. More than a month ago residents formed the Citizens Against Multi-Chem group. They said they don't want the facility in their neighborhood, off of Highway 92 and Winfred Road near Maurice, because they are worried about safety and environmental hazards that could come from the chemical plant.

But Multi-Chem executives said the 64 acres it purchased is almost completely cleared and ready for construction. The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality has already issued three permits for Multi-Chem's new facility: two air permits and one storm-water permit. Multi-Chem is also in the process of applying for building permits through the Vermilion Parish Police Jury.

"Most of the people I've spoken to so far, they're upset," said Marcella Manuel, organizer of Citizens Against Multi-Chem.

But it's that attitude Multi-Chem Vice President Blage Gage hopes to change.

"We want to do the right thing, we have employees that work here, we have families that are here, it is clearly our intention to be a great neighbor," said Gage.

Still, this new neighbor isn't Hi, given the plant explosion at Multi-Chem's New Iberia facility last year. The new plant will perform the same functions as that facility, blending chemicals, but with some upgrades.

"What we've done is really looked hard at the design, based upon what we knew happened and all the contributing factors of that," explained Gage. "We wanted to make sure we had room to segregate activity within the plant. We wanted to make sure we had room to serve as barriers should anything ever happen."

The new facility is not a manufacturing plant, but blends raw materials that are used in the oil and gas industry.