The writer, a Los Angeles freelancer and former Detroit News business reporter, writes a blog, Starkman Approved.
By Eric Starkman
Oklahoma Gov.Governor Kevin Stitt and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer
Finally, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and her Michigan Economic Development folks have some company among the dimmest bulbs in the green energy galaxy.
A local Oklahoma City television station today featured a former high-level Canoo employee saying he wasn’t shocked the start-up electric vehicle manufacturer, which received major financial support from Oklahoma taxpayers, furloughed all its employees and shuttered its Oklahoma production facilities on Wednesday.
In fact, the whistleblower says, despite telling the public and its investors otherwise, the company never built any vehicles in Oklahoma.
In 2023, Governor Kevin Stitt and Oklahoma Department of Commerce leaders announced the State of Oklahoma had awarded Canoo more than $100 million in state-funded incentives.
Stitt is a Republican businessman serving his second term in office, making clear that Democrats don’t have a monopoly on misguided green energy investments. He previously was in the mortgage business.
Incentives Over 10 Years
Oklahoma’s plan was to pay out the incentives to Canoo over a 10-year period to help bootstrap the company. In exchange, Canoo promised to manufacture its vehicles in Oklahoma, bringing the state jobs and potentially millions in tax revenue.
Canoo opened a battery manufacturing plant in the central Oklahoma city of Pryor and a vehicle assembly plant in Oklahoma City, promising more than 100 jobs.
Granholm chatting with Chris Moore, a VP at Canoo in the back of a Canoo Lifestyle Vehicle (Canoo photo)
In 2023, the company lost more than $300 million. In November, the company furloughed around 30 workers in Oklahoma City. On Wednesday, Canoo announced it had furloughed its 82 remaining workers in Oklahoma and would be “idling” its Oklahoma City and Pryor plants.
It should come as no surprise to Michiganders who endured Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm’s two terms as governor, Joe Biden’s green energy czar in October of last year touted Canoo among the successes of his administration’s Inflation Reduction Act initiatives. A White House “fact sheet” claimed the president had “catalyzed over $3 billion” in green energy Oklahoma investments, including $560 million for Canoo.
The fact sheet said Canoo would generate “at least” 700 “high paying jobs.”
Of course, Stitt is a piker compared to Whitmer and her MEDC cronies when it comes to squandering taxpayer monies.
Gov. Whitmer (file photo)
Whitmer last year spearheaded more than $1.7 billion in subsidies and grants so Ford could destroy fertile farmland and century old trees in picturesque rural Marshall and build an electric battery plant in partnership with a communist China-based company. Ford originally promised to create 3,500 jobs, but later scaled back the project and now says it will only create 2,500 positions.
Center for Economic Accountability, a nonprofit think tank, declared Ford’s taxpayer giveaway the 2023 “Worse Economic Deal of the Year.”
Michigan’s legislature also signed off on $666.1 million in taxpayer-funded incentives for GM to build a battery plant in Lansing, as well as electric trucks in Lake Orion. GM has repeatedly delayed the launch of the Orion EV truck production, and now says it will be mid-2026 at the earliest.
Sell Lansing Plant
GM recently announced it would sell its joint-venture interest in the Lansing plant and would recoup its investment. The company made no mention of whether it would offer any compensation to Michigan taxpayers.
Meanwhile, GM is seeking $250 million from Michigan taxpayers to finance the redevelopment of the Renaissance Center, which it is abandoning because it has significantly downsized its Detroit workforce thanks to Gov. Whitmer, who relaxed an obligation requiring GM to maintain at least 4,000 jobs in the city.
Speaking of Granholm and Whitmer, Reuters reported that Granholm’s Energy Department finalized a $9.63 billion loan to a joint venture of Ford and South Korean battery maker SK On to help finance construction of EV manufacturing and battery plants in Tennessee and Kentucky.
Despite Ford’s decision to delay the opening of the Tennessee plant for at least two years and a Kentucky battery plant indefinitely, the DOE without public explanation increased the size of Ford’s sweetheart loan to $9.63 billion from the original $9.2 billion previously announced. The loan allows Ford to borrow money at the same favorable interest rates as the U.S. government.
Granholm before the presidential election donated $500 million in taxpayers' monies to GM so the company could retool its Lansing plant for electric vehicle production. I’ve previously argued in Deadline Detroit why Congress should investigate Granholm’s Ford loan and her GM taxpayer donation.
While there’s been considerable news coverage about drone sightings in New Jersey, there’s been scant coverage of signs of intelligent political life in Lansing.
In a recent Detroit News commentary, Sen. Mark Huizenga, R-Walker, opined:
“The people (of Michigan) have a right to full transparency in how their tax dollars are being spent."
“At the very least, GM owes taxpayers answers after banking billions while abandoning its Lansing venture and delaying its EV truck production in Orion Township. A big question is whether the people of Michigan are due a refund from GM after being sold a lemon.”
Reach the writer at Eric@starkmanapproved.com. Confidentiality is assured.
