Del. eyes tax reforms, incentives for DowDupont ag unit

WILMINGTON (WPVI) -- The DuPont company looked like it was about to call the Midwest its new home, but much of it will apparently be staying in Delaware along with thousands of jobs in the planned merger of DuPont and Dow Chemical of Michigan.

In Delaware, 1,700 jobs have already been slashed. Three independent companies will be created by the merger, and word on Friday is the corporate headquarters for the agriculture company and the spinoff specialty products company will be in Delaware.

"The fact that these folks will continue to be in Delaware, they'll be able to stay in their homes and all that goes with that," said Gov. Jack Markell (D.-Del.). "The revenue that would've been lost to this state, I mean, this is a huge win on a number of fronts."

The new agricultural company would create the nation's largest business of its type, worth roughly $20 billion.

To keep the still unspecified number of jobs in Delaware, the governor had to promise a number of tax credits and related incentives.

Delaware economic development officials are also offering the new company more than $9.5 million in grant money for building new structures.

"We came out on top of the three choices that they had. Now they're still going to have operations on the agriculture business in Indiana and in Iowa, which makes sense," said Rich Heffron, Delaware Chamber of Commerce. "But the fact that this will be where management is, is a positive and a win for us."

Action News spoke to Delawareans happy that the hemorrhaging of jobs appears to be stopped.

"It's great for the citizens of Delaware. A lot of people have families, they have mortgages, they have car notes," said Gerald Riviera of Wilmington.

"It's really sad to see what's happened to so many employees who've devoted their lives here so the more jobs saved, the better," said Rachelle Mersky of Wilmington.

For two centuries DuPont has been the basic fabric of Delaware's economy, not long ago getting to keep two-thirds of the merger spinoff was only a pipe dream.