When billionaire Jeff Bezos announced this week Amazon will build a second North American headquarters creating up to 50,000 jobs, he triggered what may be the most fierce economic development competition in years.

“Everybody in this country — and frankly probably in North America, Canada and Mexico included — is excited and thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, what an opportunity for our community,'” Michael Langley, 2017 board chair of the International Economic Development Council, told USA Today.

Will Louisiana be in the race for what Bezos is calling Amazon’s HQ2?

“I’m confident we’ll look at this and likely make a proposal,” said Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Don Pierson. “We will first seek more clarity on the goals and objectives of the company.”

Bezos, the founder of the Seattle-based tech and online retail giant, gave competitors an Oct. 19 deadline to present proposals for the $5 billion project. The company will announce the winner in 2018.

At least one of the initial requirements, an urban or suburban area with a minimum 1 million population, would seem to eliminate Louisiana, but Pierson said, “There will be a tremendous number of variables in a project like this.”  “We may present regional population corridors like Baton Rouge and Lafayette or Baton Rouge and New Orleans rather than a single city,” said Pierson, although no two-city combination would net more than 600,000 people here.

“If we’re in any competition, we’ll play an aggressive role,” Pierson said.

“We have strong assets in Louisiana workforce training and superior logistical infrastructure with our ports, highways and rail,” he said. “There are a lot of things we bring to the table that make Louisiana a great choice for any project.”

Bezos said HQ2 won’t be a satellite to the Seattle headquarters, where 40,000 workers are employed.

“We expect HQ2 to be a full equal to our Seattle headquarters,” Bezos said. “We’re excited to find a second home.”

Michael Olivier, who was economic development secretary under former Gov. Kathleen Blanco, said incentives won’t be an initial factor.

“First and foremost will be access to workforce, raw materials and market,” said Olivier, now the president and chief executive of the Committee of 100 for Economic Development. “Only after those needs are met will incentives come into play.

“As I’ve said many times, this will be a site elimination process, not a site selection process.”

Amazon asked state and local leaders to coordinate their plans and submit one proposal per eligible region.