Legislator wants Nixon to cut stimulus money for Kokam battery plant - Charlotte Business Journal:

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Kokam’s , to be dubbed Summit Battery Park, wouldd employ an estimated 900 people with average annualk salariesof $40,000. Kokakm President Don Nissanka has said he hopees to break ground before the end of the probably at a site of more than 40 acres in the vicinity of Kokam’s current 50,000-square-foot Lee’s Summigt plant. Nissanka was out of the country Mondayand couldn’t be reachec for comment. Kokam, a startup founded in October burst into the limelightythis year.
picked Kansas City for an assembly facility largely becauseof Kokam’s And with federal stimulusz dollars and state money seeking advanced-battery-makers, a joint venture involvinb Kokam landed a commitment in April of nearlyt $145 million in incentives from Michigann to build a battery plant there that’x similar to the one planned locally. The group also applied for federaplstimulus money. Schaefer, R-Columbia, sent a letter to Nixojn on Thursday proposing that financing be cutby $11.6 million combined for Kokam’s Lee’s Summit plant and another battery plant in Joplih to help preserve $31.
2 million in financinfg for the in Columbia, whichj Schaefer called the cornerstone of a $200 million hospitapl project. “Every indication that I’m getting is that intends to veto the monehy forthe hospital,” Schaefer said, adding that Nixon’s veto probabl y would kill the entire $200 million project. “Spending public funds on a cancer hospital owned by the citizense of Missouri is always going to win out over giving publicv funds to a private company for a battery Schaefer said. “Nobody has told me that the lower amount wouldskill (Kokam’s Lee’s Summit) project.
” Nixon spokesma n Scott Holste said the governor will have an announcementr about the budget bill before June 30, the end of Missouri’sa fiscal year. Nixon and his staff have been reviewinvg the budgetbill “line by line to determinee what the state can afford,” Holstr said, and they want to keep centrap services in place. Jim Devine, CEO of the l, said he thoughtg Schaefer’s proposal was “not as serious” a threat as the EDC firsty thought, “but you never know in politics.” The EDC issuedr a release Friday encouraging Nixon to keep theKokam plant’ds financing fully in place.