Clean Tech issues press release

Clean Tech distributed the following press release this morning.

Clean Tech abandons plans to develop its $300-million 

manufacturing plant in North Carolina

Clean Tech Silicon and Bar LLC announced today that it was abandoning its plans to invest $300 million and create 450 jobs in Stanly County, NC, in the town of Badin. A December 15 deadline to reach an agreement passed without an agreement being reached with either the Stanly County Commissioners or North Carolina.  

The Stanly County plant was to be located on an industrial site owned by Alcoa and would have created 450 new jobs. Clean Tech would have employed 250 people with an average wage of $55,000 per year and created an additional 200 support jobs with an average wage of $40,000 per year.

Key elements of the proposed Clean Tech agreement included:

• A 30-year commitment to Stanly County in terms of investment, job creation and related payroll. 

• A commitment to forego certain tax breaks available to all scrap metal recycling companies operating in North Carolina and pay full property taxes. 

• A pledge to provide $500,000 a year to educational institutions in Stanly County.

In a last effort to try and reach agreement with Stanly County and North Carolina, Clean Tech teamed with Alcoa and offered to commit to creating a total of 750 jobs with a payroll and benefits commitment that started at $30 million and increased over time to more than $43 million annually.  The jobs and payroll commitment would have lasted for fifty years.

In announcing that it was abandoning its plans to invest in Stanly County, Clean Tech noted that unlike almost every other economic development project recently announced in North Carolina, Clean Tech was not seeking government subsidies, incentives or tax holidays and was instead looking to benefit from a substantial package of incentives Alcoa was providing to support Clean Tech’s investment in the town of Badin at the site of its former aluminum smelter. 

The Alcoa incentive package included a direct investment in Clean Tech, a long-term purchase commitment, and an agreement to significantly lower Clean Tech’s cost of electrical power. 

John Correnti, Clean Tech’s chairman, stated, “I am disappointed that things did not work out differently and that the legal maneuvering related to North Carolina’s and Stanly County’s attempts to take control of Alcoa’s hydroelectric dams finally forced us to move on. We tried our best but in this case other agendas prevailed.”  

Correnti went on to state that “Clean Tech greatly appreciates the enthusiastic support for Clean Tech shown by the good folks of Stanly County and the town of Badin.  They deserved a better outcome.”

Clean Tech expects to announce its new location shortly after the year-end holidays. 

# # #