Tag: Jobs

Medical device manufacturer Stryker of Kalamazoo layoff of 1000 workers is because of Obamacare according to the Weekly Standard:

" Late last week a Stryker spokesperson told me that Obamacare will cost the company fully 20 percent of its total research and development investments."

What might you think about it?

" I don't think it's the right answer. However, it is the law of the land, and the real question is: What can we do to make it a positive for Michigan?"

Just suck it up and play nice while the nice man in the whitehouse showers our Great Lakes State with golden raindrops.

While the Republican controlled congress fiddles with bills and resolutions that will never make it to the President's desk, the damage is already being done. The EPA has made it unprofitable for a power company to do business in the UP.  As the Candidate Obama put it so bluntly in 2008:

"If someone wants to build a new coal-fired power plant they can, but it will bankrupt them because they will be charged a huge sum for all the greenhouse gas that's being emitted."

The Presque Isle Power plant in Marquette faces a shutdown as a major buyer seeks electricity off the grid from elsewhere. From Energy Biz:

"Cliffs Natural Resources Inc., which operates two iron ore mines in Michigan, has notified We Energies that it will begin buying electricity from Integrys Energy Services, a retail electricity provider that sells electricity in states that have opened up their power markets to competition, Cliffs spokesman Dale Hemmila said.

Cliffs spent $120 million with We Energies last year, according to a filing with the Michigan Public Service Commission."

While the competitive forces are straight up and legitimate, A shutdown of this plant due to a federal regulatory nightmare will have an unpredictable effect on the stability of electricity in the Upper peninsula.  Costs for residents will likely skyrocket, and service will become sub-par.

The SS Badger, a coal fired ferry has just received its last reprieve from the Obama administration and a deal brokered between the EPA with the Justice department and the ferry company.  But still it must replace its engines in two years or be done.  In the mean time restrictions have been added so that the hammer of government is felt and appreciated.  Coal fired, is the line that crosses the political hairs of president Obama, who's EPA has directed the greatest assault on energy production and other use of the fossil fuel. This administration has been gunning for the up to 900 jobs (200 directly and 700 indirectly) affected by this recent development. In a January 2008 Interview, Obama said:

"Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket. Even regardless of what I say about whether coal is good or bad. Because I'm capping greenhouse gases, coal power plants, you know, natural gas, you name it -- whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, uh, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers."

The decision to allow the ferry the small window of continued operation is not good enough for Durbin however, who (with nary a peep in opposition from Michigan's US Senators) would like to see those jobs lost permanently.

"The SS Badger, the filthiest ship on the Great Lakes, has been given two more years to dump hundreds of tons of dangerous coal ash into Lake Michigan .. The millions of people who live, work and play in and around this beautiful Lake should be outraged that this filthy ship will continue to operate."

.. To the Lake Michigan Carferry Service which has a lengthy history of seeking loopholes and political fixes to avoid cleaning up their spewing vessel, I have four words: Stop Badgering our lake!"

A Michigan-based company slated to produce lithium-ion polymer batteries for electric vehicles has instead kept production overseas, has failed to meet job targets outlined in a $150 million grant from the federal government, and has been reimbursed by the government for $842,000 in wasted work time, according to a U.S. Department of Energy Special Report released Wednesday.

The DOE says Holland, Mich.-based LG Chem Michigan misused part of a $150 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds and has decided not to shift production from its plant in South Korea to Michigan. It painted a stark picture of wasted U.S. federal dollars.

"Until the shift in production takes place or some alternative use for the plant is developed, U.S. taxpayers will receive little direct benefit from a plant for which they provided up to half of the funding," the report said.

MORE

It never seems to end well.

LG Chem which promised 300 jobs, received a $150,000,000.00 Fed grant, $7,000,000. more in fed paid training and $700k in health coverage, has bored employees.  The employees, which might have been present at the federally funded $500,000.00 groundbreaking with special guest Barack Obama might need to hang around a little longer so that Michigan can cough up its promise of $125,000,000.00 in credits as well.

A little report worth watching.

A year from now this plant will be empty.

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder did a series of videos regarding the ballot initiatives we will see in November.  Opining on issues one through six, Snyder makes a number of reasonable points, and its worth going through them to see where you might agree. Or not. The last proposal discussed is the DRIC, where he (the text says) says:

"If there's one proposal we've heard a lot about, it's Proposal Six.

On the surface, the issue is about the New International Trade Crossing - the new bridge to Canada. But if you dig deeper, you'll see that Proposal Six would have even more far-reaching consequences.

While the proposal is intended to protect one company's monopoly on truck crossings between Detroit and Canada, it was sloppily written and jeopardizes ANY bridge under construction today that won't be completed by January 1, 2012, or any bridge built thereafter."

It didn't have to be this way.