Panasonic Battery Plant

[Plutonic Panda]

Did we ever get word on if Panasonic was going to consider a second plant in Pryor?

[BG918]

Did we ever get word on if Panasonic was going to consider a second plant in Pryor?

Still very much a possibility. This was from a recent article:

There was that whole beauty pageant between Kansas and Oklahoma to win that plant, each state was throwing incentives at you. Is there still potential for a plant in Oklahoma?

We estimate we’ll grow roughly fourfold by 2030. So yes, there’s definitely potential for other plants in the US.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...ry-plant-in-us

And there is another multi-billion dollar manufacturing plant the state is trying to land at MAIP https://tulsaworld.com/news/state-an...home-top-story

[Plutonic Panda]

Good deal. Hopefully they land it.

[king183]

There is funding in the LEAD Fund for only one of those two deals (Panasonic or the Project Connect entity). In other words, whoever makes the move first would get the incentive funds and the other would likely not come to Oklahoma, unless they’re willing to without those incentives.

[Plutonic Panda]

The state can come up with more money.

[mugofbeer]

The state can come up with more money.

I thought the state was flush with cash?

[king183]

The state can come up with more money.

Simple! Why didn’t I think of that?

Apparently you haven’t been following the legislative discourse on this topic.

[Plutonic Panda]

This is just flat out depressing thinking this could’ve been Oklahoma.

https://kansasreflector.com/2023/02/...coffey-county/

[BG918]

This is just flat out depressing thinking this could’ve been Oklahoma.

https://kansasreflector.com/2023/02/...coffey-county/

All it takes is landing one and then it’s like a snowball effect. Good for Kansas for capitalizing on the opportunity.

[FighttheGoodFight]

Looks like OK is trying to get a VW battery plant https://www.readfrontier.org/stories...dustrial-park/

Sounds like Canada has already sealed this deal but at least we are trying to get some more new energy projects.

[Plutonic Panda]

All it takes is landing one and then it’s like a snowball effect. Good for Kansas for capitalizing on the opportunity.

I’m happy for Kansas and they deserve it. Just irritated how Oklahoma constantly drops the ball.

[chssooner]

I’m happy for Kansas and they deserve it. Just irritated how Oklahoma constantly drops the ball.

How did Oklahoma drop the ball in the Panasonic battery plant race again?

[Plutonic Panda]

How did Oklahoma drop the ball in the Panasonic battery plant race again?

Oh not increasing incentives to match Kansas, the comments from legislators about Panasonic being a woke cesspool(or something like that), and the overall backwards nature of the government doesn’t help.

[onthestrip]

How did Oklahoma drop the ball in the Panasonic battery plant race again?

Im guessing it was simply Kansas going higher with incentives. Like over $800,000,000!

[catch22]

The more OK waves it’s arms in the air saying “pick me, pick me” the more skeptical these other businesses may become. At some point it may not be about money. When business’s are constantly passing you over they will probably become more suspicious of why other companies are passing.

[baralheia]

The more OK waves it’s arms in the air saying “pick me, pick me” the more skeptical these other businesses may become. At some point it may not be about money. When business’s are constantly passing you over they will probably become more suspicious of why other companies are passing.

There definitely needs to be a serious study of why we keep getting passed over for these big projects. I have my suspicions, as seemingly do many here, but we can't make forward progress until we have hard data to either back up or refute our gut feelings.

[shavethewhales]

This is just flat out depressing thinking this could’ve been Oklahoma.

https://kansasreflector.com/2023/02/...coffey-county/

Yeah, we need to talk about this more. It's not just one or two projects now, it's a succession of projects and billions upon billions of dollars of investment that are bypassing our state. As others are suggesting, something is up. I know we got beat on the Panasonic deal, but surely we would have landed something mildly big at this point over the last couple years of trying and throwing out massive incentives. All the states around us are growing more substantially than us and all we get are dregs and basic low-level manufacturing and other low-level jobs. I think the biggest new jobs announcement for the Tulsa metro lately was a call center. OKC has more going on, but as has been pointed out a lot of it is just sucking in from the rest of the state.

^I'd love to be a fly on the wall in some of these company meetings discussion our prospects. Without a lead, it's hard to do anything but speculate what is going wrong. The comments from various politicians regarding Panasonic were troublesome, and the firebrands that are increasingly a louder voice in our already deep red politics can be embarrassing. I know we don't want to get too political in here, but it's a factor. Schools are a major concern for employers, especially those expecting to move or attract employees here. Another report came out recently showing that we are in dead last place among one metric of teacher pay.

[king183]

https://www.kansascity.com/news/poli...id=-2101803497

Kansas is already saying they need more incentives than what was previously committed to Panasonic.

In the past year Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly’s administration has committed more than $1.1 billion to Panasonic and Integra Technologies through the state’s largest economic incentive tool. Now the Democratic governor’s administration is asking lawmakers to make even more state dollars available to suppliers of those major companies, arguing the incentives already available aren’t enough.

But economic development experts told The Star that high incentives for suppliers shouldn’t be necessary for major companies like Panasonic. It’s rare for governments to incentivize suppliers, said Nathan Jensen, a professor of government at the University of Texas at Austin who researches economic development incentives.

“It’s weird,’‘ he said. “It’s not something you see very often, in particular in the auto industry.” That’s because state government leaders often use suppliers as part of their justification for awarding big incentives to large factories. The argument is that projects like Panasonic will have a so-called multiplier effect. Aside from the direct jobs and investments at the plant, the project is expected to create spin-off employment among suppliers.

But that argument falls flat if the suppliers are getting incentives, too.

[chssooner]

They gave them an inch, so of course they want a mile.

[BG918]

Yeah, we need to talk about this more. It's not just one or two projects now, it's a succession of projects and billions upon billions of dollars of investment that are bypassing our state. As others are suggesting, something is up. I know we got beat on the Panasonic deal, but surely we would have landed something mildly big at this point over the last couple years of trying and throwing out massive incentives. All the states around us are growing more substantially than us and all we get are dregs and basic low-level manufacturing and other low-level jobs. I think the biggest new jobs announcement for the Tulsa metro lately was a call center. OKC has more going on, but as has been pointed out a lot of it is just sucking in from the rest of the state.

^I'd love to be a fly on the wall in some of these company meetings discussion our prospects. Without a lead, it's hard to do anything but speculate what is going wrong. The comments from various politicians regarding Panasonic were troublesome, and the firebrands that are increasingly a louder voice in our already deep red politics can be embarrassing. I know we don't want to get too political in here, but it's a factor. Schools are a major concern for employers, especially those expecting to move or attract employees here. Another report came out recently showing that we are in dead last place among one metric of teacher pay.

They don't get the headlines but there is a significant amount of new job creation with small businesses and especially small tech businesses in Tulsa. 36 Degrees N, the co-working/business incubator space in downtown Tulsa, has already expanded to three locations and is currently building out an even bigger space downtown due to the increased demand.

That being said, more advanced manufacturing jobs would be great to have and hopefully that is on the horizon. Oklahoma is at least on the radar, there are many states that aren't at all, and there are a lot of built-in advantages especially at a place like MAIP with its utilities. IThere doesn't seem to be a shortage of these large plants being proposed as more domestic manufacturing is needed and different types like batteries, EV's, semiconductors and robotics. I get being close to Kansas City helps with labor but when I see big new EV plants proposed for rural Kentucky, Tennessee or Alabama it isn't any different than MAIP...

[HangryHippo]

Is there a chance in hell of Oklahoma getting any Airbus/Boeing manufacturing (like what South Carolina and Mobile have)?

[soonerguru]

I’m happy for Kansas and they deserve it. Just irritated how Oklahoma constantly drops the ball.

The rumor going around is that Kevin Stitt personally insulted a high-level Panasonic senior executive, and Oklahoma is blacklisted until he is out of office.

[Plutonic Panda]

The rumor going around is that Kevin Stitt personally insulted a high-level Panasonic senior executive, and Oklahoma is blacklisted until he is out of office.

It wouldn’t surprise me. I wish I could find it but I swear there was a quote of one or more lawmakers openly mocking Panasonic on the house floor. Something along the lines of worries about the company bringing in a “woke” culture to Oklahoma.

[king183]

It wouldn’t surprise me. I wish I could find it but I swear there was a quote of one or more lawmakers openly mocking Panasonic on the house floor. Something along the lines of worries about the company bringing in a “woke” culture to Oklahoma.

It was a letter, signed by 11 Republicans (of the total 149 legislators) who are known for being non-contributing zeros (i.e., they have very little influence over legislation and are widely mocked within their respective houses).

[Dob Hooligan]

Looks to me that our personal political grievances line up perfectly with our reasons for our failure to gain the large business opportunity.