Bye Bye Freeport-McMoRan

Just like that, another corporate headquarters is likely abandoning New Orleans. The proposed merger of Freeport-McMoRan with the Phelps Dodge Corporation, an Arizona-based mining company that controls much of the copper and gold mining and private lands in the southwestern US, will likely lead to the Freeport headquarters moving to Phoenix. Of course, some of Freeport's staff and office space in New Orleans will be utilized for the near future, but as the merger takes shape and costs are cut through the reduction of duplicate staffing and services, the Freeport/Phelps Dodge office in New Orleans will slowly disappear. The abandonment of New Orleans by Freeport will leave the area with just one Fortune 500 company, Entergy. The continued loss of corporate headquarters from New Orleans, and South Louisiana is a major drain on the economy in the long-term, reduces the number of highly-skilled and well-paid jobs in the region, and makes it difficult for local and state leaders to attract new business. Not to worry though, maybe Blanco and Nagin can get together and turn the Freeport building into a new casino-hotel complex and replace all of those engineering jobs with card dealers.

TAGS: Katrina, New Orleans, NOLA, Freeport-McMoran, Phelps-Dodge, Entergy