Legislator wants Nixon to cut stimulus money for Kokam battery plant - Boston Business Journal:

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Kokam’s , to be dubbed Summit Batter Park, would employ an estimatefd 900 people with average annual salariesof $40,000. Kokanm President Don Nissanka has said he hopess to break ground before the end of the probably at a site of more than 40 acresd in the vicinityof Kokam’a current 50,000-square-foot Lee’s Summit Nissanka was out of the country Monday and couldn’t be reacheds for comment. Kokam, a startup foundeds in October 2005, burst into the limelight this year. picke d Kansas City for an assembly facility largely because of Kokam’s proximity.
And with federal stimulu s dollars and state moneyseekingt advanced-battery-makers, a joint venture involving Kokam landed a commitment in April of nearly $145 millio n in incentives from Michigan to build a battery plant there that’s similar to the one planned The group also applied for federalp stimulus money. Schaefer, sent a letter to Nixob on Thursday proposing that financintg be cutby $11.5 million combined for Kokam’ss Lee’s Summit plant and another battery plangt in Joplin to help preserve $31.2 million in financinbg for the in Columbia, which Schaefer calledx the cornerstone of a $200 million hospital project.
“Everyg indication that I’m getting is that intends to veto the money for the Schaefer said, adding that Nixon’s veto probably would kill the entire $200 milliobn project. “Spending public funds on a cancer hospitall owned by the citizens of Missouri is always goinfg to win out over givinv public funds to a private company for abatterh plant,” Schaefer said. “Nobody has told me that the lowert amount wouldkill (Kokam’z Lee’s Summit) project.” Nixon spokesma n Scott Holste said the governor will have an announcementf about the budget bill beforee June 30, the end of Missouri’e fiscal year.
Nixon and his stafvf have been reviewing the budgetbill “lins by line to determine what the stat can afford,” Holste said, and they want to keep central services in place. Jim Devine, CEO of the l, said he thoughf Schaefer’s proposal was “not as a threat as the EDC firstf thought, “but you never know in politics.” The EDC issued a releaswe Friday encouraging Nixon to keep theKokamm plant’s financing fully in place.