From: Porter, Paulette (GOV)
Sent: Wednesday, October 20, 2010 4:25 PM
Subject: What the Governor's Talking about Today

What the Governor’s Talking about Today

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

 

Governor Announces URV USA Expanding Michigan Operations

Today during her investment mission to Sweden the governor met with the managing director of URV, a manufacturer of wind turbine castings, and announced that URV USA will expand its Michigan operations in Eaton Rapids to accommodate increased market demand.  While initial plans called for a 40,000 metric ton facility, the company now plans to increase its capacity to 80,000 metric tons which will double the number of direct jobs being created to 276 by 2014.

 

URV USA is collaborating with Oak Ridge National Laboratory to develop a next-generation casting process to produce large, utility-scale wind turbine components.  Michigan Technological University will assist with alloy development, casting gating system design and solidification simulation.  The project is slated to receive $4 million in matching funds from the U.S. Department of Energy.

 

Pending financial support from the U.S. Department of Energy, the company’s foundry could grow to 160,000 metric tons, creating more than 550 jobs.  It would be the largest specialized foundry for wind turbine castings in the world, supplying two-thirds of the big castings market in North America.

 

Earlier today the governor addressed a gathering of Swedish business and government leaders on Michigan’s growing clean energy manufacturing sector at the annual conference of VINNOVA, the Swedish state agency that promotes growth and prosperity throughout Sweden.

 

Key messages:

 

 

Michigan to Receive $159 Million to Clean Up Former Auto Sites

The governor today applauded the environmental settlement agreement reached by the Obama administration and the Motors Liquidation Company (Old GM), formerly known as General Motors Corporation, that will result in the cleanup and redevelopment of 56 auto properties in Michigan, accelerating the state’s Project Phoenix, an effort to redevelop former manufacturing facilities.  The new agreement will result in a trust which will provide 14 states and one tribe with more than $641 million to return contaminated properties back to productive use.

 

The settlement, announced today by the U.S. Department of Justice, addresses Old GM’s environmental liabilities under several federal and state environmental laws at the 89 properties still owned by Old GM in Michigan and 13 other states.  Under the settlement, an environmental response bankruptcy trust will be established to take ownership and possession of the properties and provide the funding to clean the properties up, administer them and return them to beneficial use.

 

Michigan’s Project Phoenix program, introduced by the governor in her 2010 State of the State address, brings the state, current and former property owners, businesses, communities, developers and other parties together to inventory — and promote for reuse — former manufacturing sites.  The program includes buildings of 500,000 square feet or more, and land sites of 80 acres or more where former manufacturing facilities already have been demolished.  The new trust announced today will provide funding for cleanup of 18 properties involved in Project Phoenix.

 

Key messages:

 

 

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