I have always lamented how similarly small states seem to always announce some big manufacturing win. Maybe someone on this forum can educate me on Why citizens don't expect more from their elected leaders in terms of economic development. Just wondering

Ford Will Build 4 Factories in a Big Electric Vehicle Push
The automaker and a supplier will spend $11.4 billion on three battery factories and a truck plant, creating 11,000 jobs.


A prototype of an all-electric F-150 Lightning truck at Ford’s Rouge plant in Dearborn, Mich., this month.
A prototype of an all-electric F-150 Lightning truck at Ford’s Rouge plant in Dearborn, Mich., this month.Credit...Rebecca Cook/Reuters
By Neal E. Boudette
Sept. 27, 2021
Ford Motor significantly increased its commitment to electric cars and trucks on Monday by announcing that it would spend billions of dollars to build three battery factories and an electric truck plant in the United States, creating 11,000 jobs over the next four years.

The company described the investment, which it said would enable it to produce more than one million electric vehicles a year in the second half of this decade, as the single largest in its 118-year history. All told, Ford and a South Korean supplier will spend $11.4 billion on the project.

The announcement is the latest multibillion-dollar move by an automaker to quickly move to electric vehicles and phase out gasoline-powered cars and trucks as part of the global effort to combat climate change. Transportation, chiefly cars and trucks, is responsible for about 30 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, more than the power sector.

President Biden is pressing Congress and other countries to enact policies that would quickly move the world away from fossil fuels, and Ford’s announcement could influence negotiations in Washington over Mr. Biden’s climate and energy agenda. It could also become a talking point at a United Nations climate change conference that Mr. Biden and other world leaders will attend in Glasgow in November.

“I think the industry is on a fast road to electrification,” Ford’s executive chairman, William C. Ford Jr., said in an interview. “And those who aren’t are going to be left behind.”

Environmentalists have long criticized automakers for not responding forcefully enough to climate change and for selling large, gasoline-guzzling trucks and sport utility vehicles. But the industry has made a hard pivot to electric vehicles in recent months because of growing environmental concern — and because of the competitive threat posed by Tesla, the dominant maker of electric cars.
Established automakers like Ford and General Motors are racing to catch up to Tesla, which is on track to sell more than 800,000 electric cars this year. Tesla has become the most valuable automaker in the world by far, with a market capitalization of nearly $800 billion. Ford’s market value is $56 billion.

The Transition to Electric Cars
How Long Until Electric Rules? A new car sold today can last a decade or two before retiring. With more electric cars being sold, how long until they rule the road?
G.M.’s Electric Car Goals: The car manufacturer plans to sell only zero-emission vehicles by 2035.
What Can the Power Grid Handle? Four key things that need to happen before the U.S. power grid can handle a surge in electric vehicles.
Benefits of Electric Cars: They benefit both the environment and your wallet.
A Guide to Buying Electric: Shopping for an electric car can be exciting and bewildering. Consider what kind of car you want and need and where you will charge.
Ford said it would build two battery plants in Kentucky and one in Tennessee, all in a joint venture with its main battery cell supplier, SK Innovation of South Korea. In addition, the company will build an assembly plant at the Tennessee location to churn out electric pickup trucks. Ford will invest $7 billion and SK Innovation $4.4 billion, the companies said.

At least some of the new jobs, assembling electric trucks, are likely to be unionized. That would be a win for Mr. Biden, who has argued that the transition to electric cars and renewable energy can create millions of well-paying union jobs. But it is not clear how successful unions will be at organizing workers at the three battery factories jointly owned by Ford and SK Innovation

The top wage for a Ford assembly line worker represented by the United Auto Workers is $32 an hour under a contract the company and union reached in 2019. Unionized workers at parts factories typically make less than those assembling cars.

Other big automakers are also pouring billions into battery and electric car plants. G.M., which said this year that it aimed to end production of internal-combustion vehicles by 2035, plans to build four battery plants in the United States over the next few years. Ford expects electric models to make up 40 percent of its production by 2030.

Even companies that have resisted electric cars have been changing their tune. Toyota Motor, in a sudden shift in strategy, said this month that it planned to spend billions of dollars over the next decade to build battery factories and hoped to sell two million electric cars a year by the end of the decade. Previously, Toyota planned to focus on making hybrid cars and trucks and expressed doubts that fully electric vehicles would take off.

Several other automakers, including Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Hyundai and Stellantis, which was formed by the merger of Fiat Chrysler and France’s Peugeot, are also investing billions of dollars to produce electric vehicles.

“All these companies are building battery plants because you have to have your own production if you’re going to make E.V.s in high volume,” said Mike Ramsey, a Gartner analyst. “The fact they are spending billions of dollars means they’re saying: ‘There’s no turning back. We’re really going to do this.’”

But Mr. Ramsey said it was not clear how quickly consumers would embrace electric vehicles, which are still more expensive than conventional cars and trucks even after federal and state incentives. Charging stations will also have to expand significantly as more electric models hit the road.

“There’s grounds to have real concerns about where demand will actually be,” Mr. Ramsey said.

Ford’s new truck plant and battery factory in Tennessee will be in Stanton, about 50 miles northeast of Memphis. To be called Blue Oval City, the campus will cover six square miles, substantially larger than the Ford Rouge plant that Henry Ford built in the Detroit area a century ago. The Tennessee campus is expected to employ 6,000 people and will house suppliers and a battery recycling operation as well as the truck and battery factories. Ford and SK Innovation will invest $5.6 billion at the site.

The truck plant is supposed to produce a new battery-powered F-Series pickup truck, following the previously announced F-150 Lightning, but Ford declined to disclose details about it.

The two plants in Kentucky will be in Glendale, about 50 miles south of Louisville, and are expected to create 5,000 jobs, at a cost of $5.8 billion. The batteries made there will be used at North American plants that will produce Ford and Lincoln electric vehicles. Ford already employs about 13,000 people at two truck and S.U.V. plants in the Louisville area.

“We have enormous demand for our electric vehicles now, and this is going to help us accelerate,” Ford’s chief executive, Jim Farley, said in an interview. “This is going to give us a million units of supply just for Ford.”

This year, Ford began selling an electric S.U.V., the Mustang Mach-E, which has taken market share from Tesla. The company plans to add an electric delivery van by the end of the year and the electric F-150 Lightning next spring.

The company said people and businesses had placed 150,000 reservations for the F-150 Lightning. The strong interest persuaded Ford to invest an additional $250 million in the Dearborn, Mich., plant where the Lightning will be made, increasing potential production and adding 450 jobs.

The U.A.W. is hoping to represent the production workers at the four new plants. But it will have to win approval from employees to do so because “right to work” laws in Tennessee and Kentucky bar union membership as a condition of employment.

While the union represents tens of thousands of workers assembling cars and making major parts for Ford, G.M. and Stellantis, it has struggled to organize workers at the factories of foreign automakers and their suppliers. Many of those plants are in the South, where workers and conservative politicians view unions more skeptically.

“Obviously, they’ll have to hold an election, and it’s up to the workers, but Ford Motor Company has had a tremendous partnership with the U.A.W., and I wouldn’t want to change that,” Mr. Ford said.

The U.A.W.’s president, Ray Curry, is scheduled to attend the official announcements on Tuesday with Ford executives and the governors of Kentucky and Tennessee.

“We look forward to reaching out and helping develop the new work force to build these world-class vehicles and battery components,” Mr. Curry said in a statement.

Ford’s E.V. ambitions have been complicated this year by the shortage of computer chips that has disrupted production for automakers around the globe. Mr. Farley said that Ford’s supply of computer chips was improving and that the number of vehicles it produced in the third quarter of the year would be “markedly up” from the second quarter.

“Our battery electric vehicles, the demand for them and the reaction to them has been incredible,” he said. “And we have to break a lot of constraints. We have a lot of work to do.”

You do realize Oklahoma screwed over the auto industry a couple decades ago with the Tinker site, right?

You do realize Oklahoma screwed over the auto industry a couple decades ago with the Tinker site, right?

I am not familiar with this - could you fill me in?

It's hard to compete against those states, including Texas. Tulsa lost Tesla in trying and bribing. I don't think manufacturing ever fully recovered since the 2008 recession.

I am not familiar with this - could you fill me in?
The old story was that the OKC bigwigs, (and State), made a handshake deal that the GM plant wouldn’t pay (property) taxes. And after opening the local school board (Midwest City) went to court for taxes for school system, and won. I knew someone working in the Chamber of Commerce office, in the Santa Fe parking garage, and they kept a WSJ article about OK screwing (opinion) GM and the City wasn’t too be trusted. Helped on work trains, building the yard, and switched the plant till it closed, quite an operation it was. I don’t think the history had anything to closing, GM just lost so much market share, and had way too many factories. Who knows.

NE Oklahoma competed for the latest Tesla factory and made it into the top two losing out to TX. Canoo plans to open an electric car factory outside Pryor.

There is an Oklahoma EV Coalition that is actively promoting the state for these types of investments. Francis Energy out of Tulsa is a fast-growing company that produces EV charging stations and part of the effort to bring more similar companies to NE OK.

https://www.fuelsfix.com/2019/11/oklahoma/

http://chooseev.com/ok/about/

The old story was that the OKC bigwigs, (and State), made a handshake deal that the GM plant wouldn’t pay (property) taxes. And after opening the local school board (Midwest City) went to court for taxes for school system, and won. I knew someone working in the Chamber of Commerce office, in the Santa Fe parking garage, and they kept a WSJ article about OK screwing (opinion) GM and the City wasn’t too be trusted. Helped on work trains, building the yard, and switched the plant till it closed, quite an operation it was. I don’t think the history had anything to closing, GM just lost so much market share, and had way too many factories. Who knows.

Yes, that's correct. It was apparently more than a handshake deal, from what I was told. It involved property taxs on the GM OKC Assembly Plant. There was a young female attorney by the name of Lana Tyree, who alledgedly was trying to make a big name and big reputation for herself, as I was told back then. GM lost the lawsuit, and you can certainly say that OKC and the employees who made wages and paid taxes and the other taxpayers who benefitted from all the HUGE amount of money the GM Plant brought into the local economy, which would have been way much more than One Million Dollars.

Promises and agreements were made, Lane Tyree got her name and image on the news blah blah blah, and that's the way it went. Oh, and guess what? She got paid ONE MILLION DOLLARS for her "work" in this fiasco.

It's hard to compete against those states, including Texas. Tulsa lost Tesla in trying and bribing. I don't think manufacturing ever fully recovered since the 2008 recession.

What factors make it hard to compete with Kentucky specifically?

Yes, that's correct. It was apparently more than a handshake deal, from what I was told. It involved property taxs on the GM OKC Assembly Plant. There was a young female attorney by the name of Lana Tyree, who alledgedly was trying to make a big name and big reputation for herself, as I was told back then. GM lost the lawsuit, and you can certainly say that OKC and the employees who made wages and paid taxes and the other taxpayers who benefitted from all the HUGE amount of money the GM Plant brought into the local economy, which would have been way much more than One Million Dollars.

Promises and agreements were made, Lane Tyree got her name and image on the news blah blah blah, and that's the way it went. Oh, and guess what? She got paid ONE MILLION DOLLARS for her "work" in this fiasco.

The bottom line is the GM legal department did not do due diligence in determining the legality of the the unauthorized agreement.
That deal failing was negligence on the part of GM.
Midtowner had a post on this subject with the details awile back.

The bottom line is the GM legal department did not do due diligence in determining the legality of the the unauthorized agreement.
That deal failing was negligence on the part of GM.
Midtowner had a post on this subject with the details awile back.

That’s correct, the old statement, you get what you pay for applies.

Hasn't OKC gotten several large aviation and defense related manufacturing operations relocated there recently? I know Boeing relocated it's most or all of it's Wichita and California based manufacturing operations here. OKC was also recently chosen to be the KC-46 and new B-21 maintenance base. Tulsa just has an aviation company, LIMCO/Airepair, that just announced a fairly major expansion of it's Tulsa Operation and a relocation of it's HQ from Israel to Tulsa. A bearing manufacturing company, primarily aerospace related, just announced it's moving from Irvine to Bristow, Ok. That Canoo electric car plant, however skeptical I am of it, was just announced and Tulsa was at least considered for Tesla and will very likely be at the top of the consideration list for a future manufacturing facility.

I'd always love for us to be getting a bigger share, but manufacturing operations ARE relocating here. I think the fact that you live halfway across the country and frankly that you generally take such any extremely negative view OK that you pay more attention to what is happening in the other 49 states than you do to what's happening here.

Hasn't OKC gotten several large aviation and defense related manufacturing operations relocated there recently? I know Boeing relocated it's most or all of it's Wichita and California based manufacturing operations here. OKC was also recently chosen to be the KC-46 and new B-21 maintenance base. Tulsa just has an aviation company, LIMCO/Airepair, that just announced a fairly major expansion of it's Tulsa Operation and a relocation of it's HQ from Israel to Tulsa. A bearing manufacturing company, primarily aerospace related, just announced it's moving from Irvine to Bristow, Ok. That Canoo electric car plant, however skeptical I am of it, was just announced and Tulsa was at least considered for Tesla and will very likely be at the top of the consideration list for a future manufacturing facility.

I'd always love for us to be getting a bigger share, but manufacturing operations ARE relocating here. I think the fact that you live halfway across the country and frankly that you generally take such any extremely negative view OK that you pay more attention to what is happening in the other 49 states than you do to what's happening here.

just for context on how big some of the tinker stuff is ...

the KC-46 complex construction was/is over 700 mil (ie the devon tower)

One of those Ford plants would of been huge not just for OKC, but for the state of Oklahoma! Did Oklahoma even present a proposal?

Makes the Carvana Reconditioning Center look like crumbs compared to one of those Ford mega sites.

Hasn't OKC gotten several large aviation and defense related manufacturing operations relocated there recently? I know Boeing relocated it's most or all of it's Wichita and California based manufacturing operations here. OKC was also recently chosen to be the KC-46 and new B-21 maintenance base. Tulsa just has an aviation company, LIMCO/Airepair, that just announced a fairly major expansion of it's Tulsa Operation and a relocation of it's HQ from Israel to Tulsa. A bearing manufacturing company, primarily aerospace related, just announced it's moving from Irvine to Bristow, Ok. That Canoo electric car plant, however skeptical I am of it, was just announced and Tulsa was at least considered for Tesla and will very likely be at the top of the consideration list for a future manufacturing facility.

I'd always love for us to be getting a bigger share, but manufacturing operations ARE relocating here. I think the fact that you live halfway across the country and frankly that you generally take such any extremely negative view OK that you pay more attention to what is happening in the other 49 states than you do to what's happening here.

I think this sort of response is exactly the problem in Oklahoma. IGNORE or deflect from the original question Why does the State seem to not pursue BIG (000's) of job opportunities. What is so special about Kentucky or Tenn or any where else. Is it extreme to simply want my home state to gain thousands of Jobs for its citizens? People who are native to Oklahoma like me but not longer reside in the State, still care a great deal about the State and Cities prosperity as evidenced by this forum. I for one simply want my home state where I was raised and educated to rise beyond mediocrity in so many areas. Oklahoma has so much potential however, IMO it is untapped because the focus of State Government is not improving educational outcomes and creating or pursuing high paying jobs that will keep the next generation in the State. No knock on Tinker or Fort Sill or any other Federal Government presence in the State but should a State be so beholding to government? Canoo is a good example, but you do know it is a startup. Tesla was not going to Tulsa, no matter what. So it really just depends on your perspective

One of those Ford plants would of been huge not just for OKC, but for the state of Oklahoma! Did Oklahoma even present a proposal?

Makes the Carvana Reconditioning Center look like crumbs compared to one of those Ford mega sites.

My point exactly

One of those Ford plants would of been huge not just for OKC, but for the state of Oklahoma! Did Oklahoma even present a proposal?

Makes the Carvana Reconditioning Center look like crumbs compared to one of those Ford mega sites.

Instead we get a startup that is under SEC investigation and a Governor who granted the start up 300M with still no details on the conditions of the "incentive".

It's weird how a city, like OKC, with all of its alleged problems
Manages to achieve an Unemployment Rate of 2.6% (https://www.bls.gov/eag/eag.ok_oklahomacity_msa.htm)
Versus 4.3% in the Charlotte MSA during the same period (https://www.bls.gov/regions/southeast/nc_charlotte_msa.htm)

What's wrong with Charlotte, DC?

Good ? DC. Big manufacturing plants bring higher paying jobs and benefits. Oklahoma might have a lower unemployment rate as more are forced into having 1.5 or 2 jobs just to make ends meet. A low u/e rate is only a small facet of the work sector and better opportunities.

Good ? DC. Big manufacturing plants bring higher paying jobs and benefits. Oklahoma might have a lower unemployment rate as more are forced into having 1.5 or 2 jobs just to make ends meet. A low u/e rate is only a small facet of the work sector and better opportunities.

Correct. Oklahoma is one of the 10 poorest States in America

Instead we get a startup that is under SEC investigation and a Governor who granted the start up 300M with still no details on the conditions of the "incentive".

I hope Canoo makes it and is able to build their plant in Pryor. All you need is one plant to begin building an electric vehicle industry “cluster” which is the goal for NE OK outside Tulsa

I hope Canoo makes it and is able to build their plant in Pryor. All you need is one plant to begin building an electric vehicle industry “cluster” which is the goal for NE OK outside Tulsa

That is a whole lotta hoping. Myself I want to know why Oklahoma was not in the running for a plant of an established automaker that pays established automaker salaries and benefits. Ford is not under SEC investigation. Ford has an established dealer network and a "name" for the product to be a success as well as for the plant to be a success.
I like the odds of Ford better than Canoo.
https://marketingsentinel.com/2021/09/28/canoo-inc-goev-has-fallen-7-96-becoming-a-losing-stock-for-investors/

[I]Canoo Inc. (GOEV) estimates and forecasts
Figures show that Canoo Inc. shares have underperformed across the wider relevant industry. The company’s shares have lost -29.49% over the past 6 months, with this year growth rate of -7.19%, compared to 15.20% for the industry. Revenue growth from the last financial year stood is estimated to be 1,860.80%./I]

How do we know that OK didn't submit a proposal? How does the proposal process work for massive projects like this? Do these large manufactures let all 50 states know they are looking at building new facilities? I am not being facetious, I really would like to know. Did the governor know that this was happening and do nothing? Or if they did know were they told that Ford was looking to build in that part of the country and it would be a waste of time and effort to try to get them here?

We have a governor who seems hell bent on making Tulsa better than OKC. He pitched second tier Tulsa vs Austin. In what world could he think they honestly had a chance? OkC, they would have had a punchers chance. Tulsa? Not a snowballs chance in hell.

We have a governor who seems hell bent on making Tulsa better than OKC. He pitched second tier Tulsa vs Austin. In what world could he think they honestly had a chance? OkC, they would have had a punchers chance. Tulsa? Not a snowballs chance in hell.

It was the Tulsa chamber and city leaders that led the charge to become a finalist for the Tesla factory, beating out Nashville. The state then assisted with the incentive package. And why would OKC be a better location?

And why would OKC be a better location?
Better transportation (except be water), more workers, better tech school training infrastructure, closer to larger markets, better air connections, closer to two major universities, generally lower costs of real estate, more progressive and dynamic leadership. Those are a few reasons.

Low unemployment is multi-faceted. Championing the statistic is grandstanding.

https://www.investopedia.com/insights/downside-low-unemployment/

KEY TAKEAWAYS
Low unemployment is usually regarded as a positive sign for the economy.
A very low a rate of unemployment, however, can have negative consequences, such as inflation and reduced productivity.
When the labor market reaches a point where each additional job added does not create enough productivity to cover its cost, then an output gap, or slack, happens.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbersin/2018/07/03/the-ugly-side-to-todays-low-unemployment-rate/?sh=4c3633763e99

Better transportation (except be water), more workers, better tech school training infrastructure, closer to larger markets, better air connections, closer to two major universities, generally lower costs of real estate, more progressive and dynamic leadership. Those are a few reasons.

Well in that case why didn’t they submit a bid? Tulsa had a site, submitted and marketed it and made it as a finalist. Canoo was a similar effort. NE OK is where the state is concentrating its EV efforts

Well in that case why didn’t they submit a bid? Tulsa had a site, submitted and marketed it and made it as a finalist. Canoo was a similar effort. NE OK is where the state is concentrating its EV efforts

I believe it was a site issue ... contiguous land. And Stitt pushes Tulsa very hard.

Oklahoma competes for manufacturing jobs and does a pretty good job of it. Some of the job mentioned here were not a fit for Oklahoma and we were never a candidate. Companies choose locations for various reasons, quite often it is logistics. We are gaining aviation jobs which are manufacturing related. As for the GM plant, there are more workers there than when GM operated it and the workers are paid twice the salary as what GM was paying. Only 5 of the 14 giant hangers are completes on 48 of the recently acquired BNSF land. This is over a half a billion dollar expansion and will bring 2500 high paying jobs. Right now we are working with the Secretary of the Air Force to get Tinker Ready for the 2 billion expansion to come in 2023. 200 acres east of the base have been acquired and Douglas will be closed. The new top secret aircraft will be based at Tinker and another 3500 very high paying jobs will be added for this operation.

We recently lost SAAB Aerospace to Indianapolis. Why? Because we don't have the workforce. That is a huge problem for us and there are many efforts under way to try to fix that. Saab wanted to build their facility next to the airport at Lariat Landing. They did all the research as did we. The workforce is not there.

OKC is pretty competitive with incentives as is the OK Department of Commerce. The two work together to be competitive. There are currently 70 economic development projects in the works that may or may not come to be.

Another issue is the availability of industrial land. 50 acres, no problem. 200 acres is a unicorn. This is why the 600 acres owned by the trust on south I-240 has been locked up for future economic development projects. We now have this in our portfolio.

Tulsa was never actually in the running for Tesla. We worked on that as well. Tesla used Tulsa to get more incentives from Austin. The always intended to go to Austin. Companies use other cities for leverage all the time.

Losing SAAB was a bummer.

Oklahoma competes for manufacturing jobs and does a pretty good job of it. Some of the job mentioned here were not a fit for Oklahoma and we were never a candidate. Companies choose locations for various reasons, quite often it is logistics. We are gaining aviation jobs which are manufacturing related. As for the GM plant, there are more workers there than when GM operated it and the workers are paid twice the salary as what GM was paying. Only 5 of the 14 giant hangers are completes on 48 of the recently acquired BNSF land. This is over a half a billion dollar expansion and will bring 2500 high paying jobs. Right now we are working with the Secretary of the Air Force to get Tinker Ready for the 2 billion expansion to come in 2023. 200 acres east of the base have been acquired and Douglas will be closed. The new top secret aircraft will be based at Tinker and another 3500 very high paying jobs will be added for this operation.

We recently lost SAAB Aerospace to Indianapolis. Why? Because we don't have the workforce. That is a huge problem for us and there are many efforts under way to try to fix that. Saab wanted to build their facility next to the airport at Lariat Landing. They did all the research as did we. The workforce is not there.

OKC is pretty competitive with incentives as is the OK Department of Commerce. The two work together to be competitive. There are currently 70 economic development projects in the works that may or may not come to be.

Another issue is the availability of industrial land. 50 acres, no problem. 200 acres is a unicorn. This is why the 600 acres owned by the trust on south I-240 has been locked up for future economic development projects. We now have this in our portfolio.

Thanks for the perspective and info.

RE: New Ford EV plants

Tennessee and Kentucky have a pretty substantial history with the auto industry and other heavy industry, both foreign and domestically owned. They both have plenty of respected institutions of higher learning, and research facilities. Transportation infrastructure in both states is really well developed. Also, they are both somewhat adjacent to the industrial North, while having remarkably low utility and labor costs and a pro-business political climate. Most of these conditions can be at least partly attributed to simple geography and how long they've been developing. Anyway, The following article contains a lot of stuff regarding Michigan rehashed several times, but it also gives some insight into Ford's process and what they were looking for. Of particular note is that they never even offered an opportunity to Michigan, their corporate home state.

https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2021/09/ford-didnt-give-michigan-shot-at-new-electric-plants-whitmer-says.html

Oklahoma competes for manufacturing jobs and does a pretty good job of it. Some of the job mentioned here were not a fit for Oklahoma and we were never a candidate. Companies choose locations for various reasons, quite often it is logistics. We are gaining aviation jobs which are manufacturing related. As for the GM plant, there are more workers there than when GM operated it and the workers are paid twice the salary as what GM was paying. Only 5 of the 14 giant hangers are completes on 48 of the recently acquired BNSF land. This is over a half a billion dollar expansion and will bring 2500 high paying jobs. Right now we are working with the Secretary of the Air Force to get Tinker Ready for the 2 billion expansion to come in 2023. 200 acres east of the base have been acquired and Douglas will be closed. The new top secret aircraft will be based at Tinker and another 3500 very high paying jobs will be added for this operation.

We recently lost SAAB Aerospace to Indianapolis. Why? Because we don't have the workforce. That is a huge problem for us and there are many efforts under way to try to fix that. Saab wanted to build their facility next to the airport at Lariat Landing. They did all the research as did we. The workforce is not there.

OKC is pretty competitive with incentives as is the OK Department of Commerce. The two work together to be competitive. There are currently 70 economic development projects in the works that may or may not come to be.

Another issue is the availability of industrial land. 50 acres, no problem. 200 acres is a unicorn. This is why the 600 acres owned by the trust on south I-240 has been locked up for future economic development projects. We now have this in our portfolio.

I to want to thank you for your insight, however, you raise an issue that has been known for decades. Oklahoma has an inadequately educated workforce. For example, Tinker has often stated they need more engineers, you say we didn't have the workers for SAAB. So what is the State doing to alleviate or improve in this area. For the state to continue to experience a workforce (talent) gap that continues to cost good jobs is not defendable to me. As I mentioned in the beginning the Tinker jobs are substantial and welcome, BUT where is private industry in a State that loathes big government? Oklahoma touts its low cost of living, low energy cost, abundant land, abundant energy resources and for the most part lower labor cost when compared to other places. My main point is that the State of Oklahoma appears from my perspective to spend alot of time and effort on issues and agendas that don't support improvement of the lives of Oklahomans.

I think Oklahoma City is the bad weather capital of Oklahoma and possibly the nation. The October ice storm from last year went over the top for unusually bad weather. People had electricity out for up to a week or two. I can't imagine how that was like. I've live in Oklahoma all my life and never had to do without electricity for any longer than from evening to the next afternoon on two occasions, both due to a F-3 tornado. I wonder how much of a role Oklahoma City's bad weather plays in discouraging business and industry from coming? I don't know, but judging by how Oklahoma City has added on to its population by around 30% since 2000, it's doesn't appear to be scaring away very many new people.

Weatherman Mike Morgan doesn't help matters my saying in a promo, "It's always severe weather season in Oklahoma."

I think Oklahoma City is the bad weather capital of Oklahoma and possibly the nation. The October ice storm from last year went over the top for unusually bad weather. People had electricity out for up to a week or two. I can't imagine how that was like. I've live in Oklahoma all my life and never had to do without electricity for any longer than from evening to the next afternoon on two occasions, both due to a F-3 tornado. I wonder how much of a role Oklahoma City's bad weather plays in discouraging business and industry from coming? I don't know, but judging by how Oklahoma City has added on to its population by around 30% since 2000, it's doesn't appear to be scaring away very many new people.

The Tornado Alley effect has moved to the Southeastern part of the country a dozen years ago. Maybe due to climate change ? Texas had a way worse effect by the winter storm than we did, and they still grow. I think with the population increase we see change definitely occurring. I was in Seattle for a week and just flew back to OKC yesterday. The woman sitting on our row had just moved to OKC, her reason being the High prices and high population in the Pacific Northwest was/is overwhelming. She was able to buy a home here.
And we experienced high prices on our trip. Gas in Seattle $4.00 +, couldn't eat lunch for less than $20 unless you went to the cheapest Fast Food, which was still $15. Glad to be back home.

I believe it was a site issue ... contiguous land. And Stitt pushes Tulsa very hard.

Maybe, NE OK has the Cherokee and Mid-America industrial parks that have large industrial sites near interstate, rail and river barge transport - the only part of Oklahoma that can offer that. You also can’t discount the fact that there is automotive manufacturing already happening in Tulsa at the Navistar bus plant that employs 1600 people. That plant, and in anticipation of future EV manufacturing in the area, are why Lyseum NA is going to build a new auto parts plant at the Port of Catoosa.

https://tulsaworld.com/business/local/automotive-supplier-to-set-up-plant-at-tulsa-port-of-catoosa-add-80-new-employees/article_c6843046-21f7-11ec-87aa-13976e526ca0.html#tracking-source=home-top-story-1

It was the Tulsa chamber and city leaders that led the charge to become a finalist for the Tesla factory, beating out Nashville. The state then assisted with the incentive package. And why would OKC be a better location? One advantage OKC has over Tulsa is it is logistically located in the middle of the State and has 3 major interstates going through the city. From a logistical standpoint, it would be easier to ship in parts and products. This is why OKC would be a better choice!

Funny to see Lana Tyree's name up there. It was just as much the AG's office, Jan Eric Cartwright. Lana was a family friend growing up. And before you go complaining about libs, Lana represented Fallin's daughter on a number of occasions. The fact is that there was the Oklahoma Industry Authority, which was making deals it had no authority to make, hiding records around town, hooking up its members with huge public funded benefits like the downtown tunnel system going to all the OIA members' buildings, Presbyterian Tower being built and then sold to the OIA members for a trifle, etc. It was corrupt as hell and it needed to be brought down.

Cartwright's second term would have seen criminal prosecutions of the like of EK Gaylord. Sadly, the Oklahoman went hard against Cartwright in the Democratic primaries, Mike Turpen, lapdog to the elite, came into the office and the corruption probes disappeared overnight.

Funny to see Lana Tyree's name up there. It was just as much the AG's office, Jan Eric Cartwright. Lana was a family friend growing up. And before you go complaining about libs, Lana represented Fallin's daughter on a number of occasions. The fact is that there was the Oklahoma Industry Authority, which was making deals it had no authority to make, hiding records around town, hooking up its members with huge public funded benefits like the downtown tunnel system going to all the OIA members' buildings, Presbyterian Tower being built and then sold to the OIA members for a trifle, etc. It was corrupt as hell and it needed to be brought down.

Cartwright's second term would have seen criminal prosecutions of the like of EK Gaylord. Sadly, the Oklahoman went hard against Cartwright in the Democratic primaries, Mike Turpen, lapdog to the elite, came into the office and the corruption probes disappeared overnight.

EK Gaylord died in 1974, while Cartwright didn't start as AG until January 1979. I'm guessing you mean EL Gaylord, who was EK's son. I will admit I was just a young guy in my early 20s when Cartwright was in office, but I don't recall ever hearing anything that would make me think criminal prosecution of Gaylord, or any of his contemporaries, would be in the offing. My recollection is that the GM case was political suicide for Cartwright. He was 100% correct in his opinion of the law, IIRC, but I don't recall him being seen as the hero, or sympathetic character in the eyes of the public.

Sadly, I think he died before age fifty?

Funny to see Lana Tyree's name up there. It was just as much the AG's office, Jan Eric Cartwright. Lana was a family friend growing up. And before you go complaining about libs, Lana represented Fallin's daughter on a number of occasions. The fact is that there was the Oklahoma Industry Authority, which was making deals it had no authority to make, hiding records around town, hooking up its members with huge public funded benefits like the downtown tunnel system going to all the OIA members' buildings, Presbyterian Tower being built and then sold to the OIA members for a trifle, etc. It was corrupt as hell and it needed to be brought down.

Cartwright's second term would have seen criminal prosecutions of the like of EK Gaylord. Sadly, the Oklahoman went hard against Cartwright in the Democratic primaries, Mike Turpen, lapdog to the elite, came into the office and the corruption probes disappeared overnight.

It’s a real stretch to proclaim there would have been criminal prosecutions of Gaylord. And to call out Turpin is just a result of your political condition.

I to want to thank you for your insight, however, you raise an issue that has been known for decades. Oklahoma has an inadequately educated workforce. For example, Tinker has often stated they need more engineers, you say we didn't have the workers for SAAB. So what is the State doing to alleviate or improve in this area. For the state to continue to experience a workforce (talent) gap that continues to cost good jobs is not defendable to me. As I mentioned in the beginning the Tinker jobs are substantial and welcome, BUT where is private industry in a State that loathes big government? Oklahoma touts its low cost of living, low energy cost, abundant land, abundant energy resources and for the most part lower labor cost when compared to other places. My main point is that the State of Oklahoma appears from my perspective to spend alot of time and effort on issues and agendas that don't support improvement of the lives of Oklahomans.

All of the area career techs have formed a compact and are working together to provide the skill sets needed. They are actually doing their own economic development working directly with companies and site selectors to fill specific needs. OKC's low employment actually hurts us when it come to economic development. All the career tech's have a clear understanding of what skill sets are going out the door. Universities tend to tell the employers what they need instead of listening. The state funded career techs are listening to the employers.

I think this thread presupposes that Oklahoma should be actively competing for things like manufacturing plants. I don't think it should. By which I mean, I don't think that we should be offering huge tax breaks and subsidies to businesses to try to incentivize them to move here. It's a bad idea because Oklahoma doesn't get much tax revenue to begin with, so we can't really afford to be giving it away. Secondly, if we do land the deal, we risk some other state or city putting together an even flashier deal and luring the company away, leaving us with a lot of money spent and still no business.

We should instead focus on simply making the state a good place to live and work, so that people choose to come to Oklahoma on its merits, not because we bribed them with freebies. Doing so would mean we'd be building up companies that are already here and encouraging new businesses to form. Look at the cannabis industry; that's all homegrown economic growth that is putting far more people to work and bringing more entrepreneurs in from out of state than a single manufacturing plant would, all without state and local governments having to spend a dime to subsidize any of it.

I think this thread presupposes that Oklahoma should be actively competing for things like manufacturing plants. I don't think it should. By which I mean, I don't think that we should be offering huge tax breaks and subsidies to businesses to try to incentivize them to move here. It's a bad idea because Oklahoma doesn't get much tax revenue to begin with, so we can't really afford to be giving it away. Secondly, if we do land the deal, we risk some other state or city putting together an even flashier deal and luring the company away, leaving us with a lot of money spent and still no business.

We should instead focus on simply making the state a good place to live and work, so that people choose to come to Oklahoma on its merits, not because we bribed them with freebies. Doing so would mean we'd be building up companies that are already here and encouraging new businesses to form. Look at the cannabis industry; that's all homegrown economic growth that is putting far more people to work and bringing more entrepreneurs in from out of state than a single manufacturing plant would, all without state and local governments having to spend a dime to subsidize any of it.

That is what Oklahoma City has been doing since the first MAPS project and now has a lot of growth to show for it. Other cities in Oklahoma need to do the same, but are reluctant to raise the city sales taxes to do it. Don't know what a state wide version of MAPS would be like and doubtful it would pass.

Many of the rural counties were against any legalization of medical marijuana. I don't know how they expect for things to get better. Maybe Oklahoma will vote on whether to legalize rec marijuana in 2022. Might as well beat Texas to doing that.

Hasn't OKC gotten several large aviation and defense related manufacturing operations relocated there recently? I know Boeing relocated it's most or all of it's Wichita and California based manufacturing operations here.

None of the Boeing jobs that moved to OKC were manufacturing. Boeing OKC is not a manufacturing site...it's all engineering, biz ops, or services.

None of the Boeing jobs that moved to OKC were manufacturing. Boeing OKC is not a manufacturing site...it's all engineering, biz ops, or services.

Which pay better. And look better, from an optics standpoint.

Which pay better. And look better, from an optics standpoint.

Engineering, yes. Biz and services, just depends on the level. Touch labor manufacturing jobs pay very well in aerospace.

Not really sure what you mean by "looks better" though...