Friday, July 30,
2010
Battle
Creek Press Conference This Evening Will Update Oil Spill
Cleanup Efforts
The governor along with Senator Debbie Stabenow, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson and others will hold
a press conference this evening in Battle Creek
updating the latest efforts to clean up the Enbridge oil spill in the Kalamazoo River.
On Monday, Enbridge reported that a 30-inch pipeline
belonging to the company burst in Marshall,
leaking an estimated one million gallons of crude oil into Talmadge Creek, a
waterway that feeds the Kalamazoo River. While the oil leak has stopped, the
spill has affected up to 25 miles of the Kalamazoo River. The spill site, located
between Marshall and Battle Creek, includes
marshlands, residential areas, farmland and businesses.
Governor Says
Chrysler’s Sterling
Heights Assembly Plant Announcement ‘Best News of the
Summer’
The governor today said that Chrysler’s announcement
that it’ll keep its Sterling Heights Assembly Plant open past its scheduled 2012
closing date is “the best news of the summer.”
“This is a project
that we and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation have worked on long
and hard along with Macomb
County, the city of Sterling Heights and many
others,” the governor said. “The fact that the more than 1,000 workers at
the plant will keep their jobs, and a second shift of another 900 workers will
be added in 2011, is a tremendous economic boost. This is a fabulous day
for Chrysler and Michigan.”
Next Week Marks
One-Year Anniversary of Milestone in Vehicle
Electrification
In her weekly radio address, the governor today said
that next week marks the one-year anniversary of a milestone in the
electrification of the automobile.
“On August 5, 2009, Vice
President Joe Biden came to Michigan to
announce that $1.35 billion in U.S. Department of Energy grants, funded by the
Recovery Act, had been awarded to several Michigan companies to support advanced battery
and electric vehicle manufacturing and development,” the governor said.
“And what a 12 months we’ve had since then. We now have 16 advanced
battery companies with ongoing projects in Michigan, representing almost $6 billion in
capital investment and estimated to create almost 62,000 new jobs over the next
10 years.”
Key
messages:
- Michigan is well
on its way to becoming the advanced battery capital of the world. It’s
what we envisioned when we targeted the advanced battery market as a sector we
wanted to grow to help diversify Michigan’s economy and create
jobs.
- Michigan’s
battery tax credits, the first in the nation, are a big reason for the state’s
success. When the governor signed these battery credits into law, it
sent a clear signal to companies that Michigan is serious about being a leader in
this industry.
- As we mark the
one-year anniversary of the battery grants funded by the Recovery Act, it’s
very important to continue the collaborative partnerships among the federal
government, state and local governments and the private sector that have
created a domestic advanced battery industry.
- We can manufacture
everything we need for a clean energy economy right here in the
United States and in
Michigan —
and create thousands of jobs for Americans.
To listen to the radio address, click on the following
link:
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/gov/Gov260Full_329214_7.mp3
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