Cuo’s $90M upstate factory-build bungle
What W in God’s name is going on here? This is a microcosm of the way Gov. Cuomo [left] does business. State Sen. John DeFrancisco
Gov. Cuomo’s much-maligned upstate economic-revitalization program is under fire again after a manufacturer suddenly bailed on a new $90 million factory near Syracuse financed by the state — without being required to pay a penalty.
The state is now spending another $15 million to bring in a semiconductor firm, NextGen Power Systems, to set up shop at the empty facility in DeWitt.
The firm that bailed, LED lightbulb manufacturer Soraa, was supposed to create 420 jobs.
When he landed the company, Cuomo boasted it would be a game changer for upstate.
“Today’s announcement not only means economic stability for the region, but it also strengthens central New York as a leader in the development of the clean technology that will help light and power the future,” Cuomo said on Oct. 29, 2015.
The switcheroo, first reported by Syracuse.com, astounded some elected officials.
“What in God’s name is going on here? This is a microcosm of the way Gov. Cuomo does business,” said state Sen. John DeFrancisco, a Republican who represents the Syracuse area and is mulling a run against Cuomo next year.
“The state economic-development programs are broke.”
DeFrancisco is demanding answers why Soraa faced no penalty for walking away from the project and wonders whether the new tenant will get the same sweetheart deal.
He’s also questioning why California-based NextGen was selected for the site when a predecessor company failed to relocate to Rochester as promised in 2016.
Avogy Inc. went out of business about nine months after Cuomo announced it would move to Rochester and create nearly 400 jobs. NexGen CEO Dinesh Ramanathan was also CEO of Avogy.
Howard Zemsky, Cuomo’s chief economic-development adviser, defended the additional $15 million investment. NextGen has committed to creating 290 jobs and investing $40 million at the facility, he said.
“Understanding the need for an anchor tenant that will help drive the innovation economy forward in central New York, we have moved quickly and successfully as we recently agreed to terms with NexGen Power Systems to establish operations in the nearly complete facility,” said Zemsky, who heads Empire State Development.
Unlike the prior deal with Soraa, the agreement with NextGen will include a clawback provision if it abandons the site.
I t’s come to this: Con Edison is so worried about a looming shortage of natural-gas pipelines, it’s set to spend $100 million a year on workarounds.
The utility this week issued a request for proposals for “non-pipe solutions” to meet New York’s mushrooming need for gas. It’s seeking ideas for rolling back demand, boosting energy efficiency, expanding local gas supplies and switching customers to electric heating.
Con Ed is “considering investing $100 million annually in a bid to avoid construction of a major new gas pipeline,” it said. Why? Because, despite the growth in demand, Gov. Cuomo keeps nixing pipeline projects to please enviro-radicals who oppose all fossil fuels, including relatively clean natural gas.
Using a host of lame excuses, Cuomo’s staff has killed or slowed projects across the state — including, for example, the Millennium, Constitution and Northern Access pipelines.
Meanwhile, Con Ed says peak gas consumption has soared more than 30 percent since 2011, and will keep on growing rapidly. With new pipelines not keeping up, the utility sees a shortfall as soon as 2023.
That leaves Con Ed (and its 1.1 million gas customers in the city) in a clear bind. Its search for “non-pipe solutions” is thus understandable — if ridiculous. After all, trying to roll back demand, even via conservation, isn’t exactly a sign of progress. And switching to electric heat just boosts demand for gas, or some other fuel, at power companies. In any event, the whole exercise is necessary only because of Cuomo’s pandering.
Ironically, his suck-up to other extremists fueled his drive to shutter the Indian Point nuclear plant, which will only make gas and gas pipelines all the more critical.
His fantasies about renewable energy (wind, solar, etc.) won’t help: It’s expensive, unreliable — and largely unavailable.
So Con Ed’s ratepayers will now have to pick up much, if not all, of a new $100 million-a-year tab to work around his pipeline ban. They’d best hope for enough gas and electricity to keep their homes running.