From: Whipple, Deb (GOV)
Sent: Wednesday, August 05, 2009
3:58 PM
Subject: Governor's Office Talking Points - 8 5 09
Governor, Lt. Governor Hail 12 Michigan
Projects Awarded Advanced Battery Grants
Governor Granholm and Lt. Governor Cherry
hailed today’s announcement by Vice President Joe Biden that 12 Michigan
projects have been
awarded more than $1.35 billion in grants from the
U.S. Department of Energy to support advanced battery and electric vehicle
manufacturing and
development. Funding for the competitive
grants comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Companies involved in the 12 projects include
General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, along with battery cell manufacturing
companies A123 Systems,
Johnson Controls, KD Advanced Battery Group and
Compact Power (on behalf of LG Chem).
Talking points:
• Today’s announcement means new economic
development and thousands of new jobs for Michigan. We’re capitalizing on
our state’s
engineering and technological expertise,
manufacturing capacity, skilled workforce and cutting-edge universities.
• Jobs to
be created by the 12 Michigan projects are estimated at 6,800 in the next 18
months and up to 40,000 by 2020.
• Advanced battery manufacturing is one of
the targeted sectors in the Granholm administration’s strategic plan to
diversify Michigan’s
economy. The administration is working to establish
an entire advanced battery industry in the state, with manufacturers, suppliers
and the whole value
chain located here, creating new economic activity
and new jobs.
• Michigan battery companies are thinking globally and will serve
a worldwide market.
• Not only is advanced battery manufacturing an economic
development issue, it’s also a national security issue. Electric vehicles
will
reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
• The groundwork for receiving today’s
grants was laid three years ago. In 2006, the Granholm administration
identified the advanced
battery market as a key emerging sector that
Michigan, already the global center of automotive research and development, was
positioned to lead.
• Michigan saw the opportunity for an
advanced battery industry well before any other state and developed an
innovative strategy to bring
to Michigan the jobs and economic development
created by advanced battery research, development and
manufacturing.
• Key to the 12 projects
winning the DOE grants is Michigan’s first-in-the-nation advanced battery tax
credit program. Earlier this year, the
governor signed into law legislation providing up
to $700 million in refundable tax credits to encourage Michigan companies to
develop and
manufacture advanced batteries.
• The grants announced today, combined
with the state’s other alternative energy initiatives in the areas of wind and
solar power, make
Michigan a leader in the green industrial
revolution.
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