Against the backdrop of ongoing auto industry cataclysm, including impending bankruptcy at General Motors and a string of suppliers already filed, Governor Jennifer Granholm on Thursday predicted a “magnificent” Michigan future sparked by growth of battery technologies, wind energy components production, and other alternative energy entrepreneurialism.
Maybe she’s a visionary or maybe she’s tilting at windmills. But as the governor talked, the Grand Hotel ballroom seemed especially old, its white pillars representing the past and its air tense with the uncertainty of creative destruction underway in much of the Michigan economy.
WWJ’s ace technology reporter, Matt Roush, offers a brief and thorough overview of Granholm’s alternative energy vision in this report. A couple additional tidbits…
AN UNCOMFORTABLE PITCH: Granholm shared the stage with Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens, who predicted calamity if the United States does not quickly wean itself from foreign oil. Pickens told how he drives a Honda model that is the only natural-gas-fueled passenger car available to consumers in the United States. He fills it up through a natural gas pipe in his garage. Granholm suggested the same could be done someday with home windmill systems. “That’s a dream,” T. Boone responded. The governor then made an impromptu economic development pitch. “Have we got a deal for you,” she told T. Boone. “What am I going to invest in in Michigan,” he responded. “What are my opportunities.” “Where are you buying your wind turbines,” she said, alluding to T. Boone’s large investment in wind farms. “GE,” he responded, implying he’d stick with a world leader in turbine manufacturing rather than mess with Granholm’s vision to help auto suppliers switch over to alternative energy component production. Granholm assured the crowd she’d privately pitch T. Boone on other ideas later in the day.
WHO ARE THESE ALTERNATIVE ENERGY COMPANIES: The governor highlighted several companies making strides toward her alternative energy/economic diversification vision. Have a peek for yourself…
4 Comments
Governor Granholm doesn’t have a clue.
On the one hand, she brags about alternative energy companies that have located or expanded in Michigan, but on the other she shuts down electric generation opportunities that would help economically support these same companies. Alternative energy can not and will never be able to totally supplant conventional energy production. Each time she directs the DEQ to thwart conventional energy production she makes us that much more vulnerable to not being able to support new businesses and the jobs they bring. Each time she supports Consumer’s and DTE monopolistic usurpation of Michigan’s electric grid, we become that much more expensive a state to live and do business. Her conflicted elitist position toward conventional power doesn’t make economic sense if we are going to grow our way out of this depression.
How long are we going to have to listen to Granholm’s over the top cheerleading and sloganeering? Who really believes that with every state targeting alternative energy, Michigan is going to capture such a large share of this industry. Who believes our workforce is second to none when industry flees our unions and she openly discusses its undereducated status? Who really thinks her policy of under funding higher education and forcing large tuition hikes, is going to create the extra college graduates our state needs? Who really believes her administration’s extravagant new jobs claims from the handful of economic development projects her administration routinely bundles together to make it look like something meaningfully positive is happening in our economy.
Fresh leadership is needed in Michigan, along with a fresh attitude among Michigan’s citizens. I recommend changing the topic of conversation from “Rust Belt” to “Innovation Belt.” The mission to Transform Michigan will require shared sacrifice and investment to ensure a prosperous future. Let free markets drive the transformation, rather than federal or state governments. It is a fool’s game to predict if a startup company will become Michigan’s version of Google, but successful entrepreneurs like Michigan native Larry Page can serve as effective role models for the next generation of business leaders.
The problem here is that the Governor is overlooking the fundamentals. Our State economy is sick because it is unattractive to businesses who, given a choice, sensibly choose to locate in a more business friendly place. Ultimately this gets down to cost. Until now we have chosen to “spit in the eye” of the market and it hasn’t worked out well. The Governor has famously said that we can’t compete on cost because the Chinese are paying 50 cents an hour. Fair enough. But, what about the other 49 states? They’re our real competition and we are losing badly.