Tag: Jobs

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.

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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.

The wind tunnel effect of prop 2 and 4 puffery by labor leaders smelling the money of forced union membership might  seem to be enough to be filling the sails of prop 3, but alas, no amount of hot air, deep sighs or physical reality matches the required blow to make it happen.  Prop 3 is a non starter from the physics sense alone:

"That's because almost the entire state of Michigan is "poor" or "marginal" for wind as a resource at 50 meters above ground (see image), according to the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The information says Michigan's best wind opportunities at 50 meters, which would be classified as "excellent" and "outstanding," are all located offshore.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory says annual wind speeds of about 6.5 meters per second at 80 meters or higher are "generally considered to have a resource suitable for wind development."  "

Its not the point.

The use of energy and accompanying pollution that must surely be generated by coal fired and natural gas generation must surely be stopped.  Certainly, if we do that, then wind and solar technology by necessity will have to be improved or we all starve, lose our modern conveniences and health maintenance devices. (you know refrigeration, medical apparatus etc..) If only we would understand "necessity is the mother of invention", damn it!

And in the meantime a little equalization wouldn't hurt the dying planet too.

A demand for engineers in Michigan:

"Andrew Watt says he figures the shelf life of an auto engineer looking for a job in Michigan is about three days. Companies that wait longer than that will have to get back in line for the next candidate.

"If their skills are even on the edges of automotive, they can get a job," said Watt, whose iTalent LLC in Troy finds engineering and information technology workers for companies in nine states. "There's an extreme shortage. There's way more demand than supply."

Demand, Supply ..  Funny how such things work.

The long term effect of our emerging technical interaction with each other will continue to create demand for such things as better engineered automobiles, heavy equipment and other manufactured goodies.  But the most important thing that ties it all together is electricity.  Cheap, abundant electricity that will continue to power the goodies, toys, and necessary equipment that keeps us healthy, mobile, and interactive.

Environmentalists in Michigan, need to mature into the continuing reality of our still relatively industrial state.  Those idealists growing up and believing the world of The Lorax exists around us need to stop believing in the fairy tale promises of such efforts as the United Nations 25x25 plan which will appear on your Michigan ballot in November.

DR. Seuss is dead.

And yes, I DID say, the United Nations plan.