Which begs the question: Why not Spring Hill?

8 Responses to “Which begs the question: Why not Spring Hill?”

1. Buzz Black writes
   October 27th, 2009 6:51 am

   Good example of what happens when big government calls the shots formerly contained within a large corporation. No longer are decisions (for good or bad) made for the good of the bottom line. They’re also made to “help” a particular region with political clout. Irregardless of whether a decision makes sense for a company (and GM has not made a lot of them in recent years), there is now a new layer of priorities for those making the decicions. Fisker will ultimately fail… as will any other favored beneficiary of this administration.

2. Buzz Black writes
   October 27th, 2009 6:53 am

   … your tax dollars at work.

   So the best solution is for GM to sell the plant to another car manufacturer. Maybe Toyota will be happy to take the plant off their hands when auto production begins to ramp up again.

3. KEW writes
   October 27th, 2009 8:40 am

   It is also possible that Fisker did not trust the State of Tennessee to support them after they failed to give $200M to keep Spring Hill going earlier. I suspect State concessions are important. Also, given the automobile, Delaware is a better spot for the consumers — East Coast greens with money. Here, seems people are still driving and buying Hummers. Big difference.

4. SouthernIndie writes
   October 27th, 2009 9:39 am

   Rather simple answer here: A large amount of money
   from Federal Dept of Energy is going to help pay
   the way on this new endeavor. Delaware although not
   many votes went for O’Bama, Tenn did not. Expect the
   southern states and others that did not and especially
   those that are not likely to in next Pres. election to get little in Federal dollars.

   Remember he are now on the Chicago plan not the
   American plan.

5. KEW writes
   October 27th, 2009 9:45 am

   The DOE money would support the endeavor wherever it would have chosen to go. Therefore, what are the reasons that TN is not conducive to this project? The easy answer is “because of Democrats in DC.” I think this leads only to us versus them thinking. Also, to suggest local politics of Chicago has moved completely to DC is further simplistic thought. I would argue that a reason to stay away from TN is because of this sort of thought — we seem rather, well, simple…

6. KEW writes
   October 27th, 2009 9:58 am

   Just a wee bit of digging suggests some additional issues:

   Delware Online

   Boxwood was selected for its size, production capacity, world-class paint facilities, access to shipping ports, rail lines and available skilled workforce, officials said.

   To lure Fisker, Delaware officials offered the company a 5-year, $12.5 million loan at zero interest to make improvements to the plant’s structure, including a new facade and new plumbing, ventilation and lighting systems. If the plant employs 2,500 workers and Fisker has spent at least $175 million renovating the facility after five years, the loan would convert to a grant. The state has also offered Fisker a $9 million grant to offset utility costs at the plant. New Castle County has offered to abate property taxes at the plant for five years, an incentive worth an expected total of $1.3 million.

7. pandabear writes
   October 27th, 2009 1:46 pm

   Aw, KEW, there you go spoiling it for all the
   “complainers with a political slant”.

   I also understand that Delaware is a very
   good place for corporate tax breaks, which
   would add to the reasons for “going and growing”
   there.

   Besides, TN has too much coal dust to clean up to
   consider other projects right now.

   Thanks TVA. We love you so much !

8. Joe41 writes
   October 29th, 2009 9:54 am

   Spring Hill is going for a bigger project. We need to push for a project that will succeed big time.