WIXOM, Mich. (WXYZ) - Ford Chairman Bill Ford Jr. and Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm are unveiling plans to redevelop the shuttered Wixom Assembly plant into a giant renewable energy park.
The ceremony will include officials from Xtreme Power and Clairvoyant Energy. The new complex will be involved in building storage batteries, solar panels and wind turbines.
The companies have said they will buy and renovate the 320-acre site if state tax incentives and federal loans are approved. The state house approved the tax breaks last week. The Senate could pass them as early as today.
The new facility is expected to revitalize the area surrounding the plant, which was hit hard when Ford closed it in 2007. It is expected to employ at thousands of 'green' jobs.
More like this, please. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover!
China has positioned itself to capitalize on the Green Revolution:
Chinese factories already make a third of the world’s solar cells – six times more than America. Next year, China will become the largest market in the world for wind turbines – overtaking America. This fall, a Chinese firm will launch the world’s first mass-produced all-electric car of this century. And where are American utilities buying the latest generation of “clean coal” power stations? China.
You know, it’s bad enough that we get our cheap plastic Wal Mart crap from China. But the last thing we need to do is become dependent on China for our energy. That’s trading one bad apple for another.
The sun shines and the wind blows in America. We should be making the components to harness this green energy here at home, too.
