By Bobby Tingle

The Orange Leader

 

Moving energy provides funding for education in Orange County.

Jefferson Energy Companies is strategically located on the Neches River at the Port of Beaumont in Orange County.

The company operates a terminal designed to transfer products and raw materials such as crude oil and ethanol.

They are uniquely positioned to accept and deliver raw materials and products by railroad, interstate highway and via waterways.

According to their website, they specialize in three areas.

The terminal was built to be “the most efficient rail terminal in the region for receiving unit trains and heavy Canadian conventional and unconventional (bitumen) crudes.”

These raw materials provide the building blocks for raw materials produced at local refineries.

A virtual rail hub is available to Jefferson with access to rail transport with major railways including BNSF Railways, Kansas City Southern Railways, Union Pacific, Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway.

Once the crude is refined Jefferson can also provide logistical services to consumer markets.  They are a ‘critical piece of the logistics chain, loading unit trains of refined products and delivering them to Mexico for retail markets.’

Recently a partnership was formed with Green Plains Inc. to create a world-class intermodal export and import distribution hub for ethanol and other liquids.

Their distribution hub provides ‘unmatched logistical optionality, service and reliability.’

They have the capacity to load 116 railcars in under 24 hours and achieve rates of 10,000 barrels per hour when loading to a ship and 5,000 barrels per hour when loading to a barge.

The Gulf Coast refinery market produces 9.1 million barrels per day, the largest in North America.  Jefferson is situated in the center of this market, poised for growth at their 250-acre site on the east bank of the Neches River Ship Channel at the Port of Beaumont, the fifth busiest port by cargo volume in the United States.

Hal LaPray, President of the Vidor Chamber of Commerce, is high on Jefferson Energy Companies and others in the Vidor market.

“Do you know the top five contributors to the Vidor School District?” asked LaPray.

LaPray and the Vidor Chamber of Commerce have been on a mission to build their organization.  They have a strong core of dedicated members to build from. Their success will provide the infrastructure to aid others in their quest to grow and impact Vidor and Orange County in a positive way.

“Jefferson Energy Companies and Optimus Steel are in the top five contributors to the Vidor School District,” said LaPray answering his own question.

LaPray understands the value of these companies.  Their success, growth, and development will only augment the already substantial support they now provide for the education of children in the City of Vidor.

“It pays over $1 million per year to the school district,” Orange County Commissioner Pct. 4 Robert Viator Jr. said. “One company which is a subcontractor does fabrication. Before Jefferson Energies, it was 7,000 square feet and is on the tax row $23,000 in value. Now it is 48,000 square feet and on the tax row $415,000 in value. Ninety percent of the employees live in Orange County.”

Viator was mayor of Vidor until January 2019 when he took the commissioners seat.

Jefferson Energy Companies has a slogan on their website, “Energy In Motion”.

They provide an integral service to the energy industry, in doing so, they provide resources for local schools.