(Source: MIRS.news, Published 06/21/2024) Nearly $400 million in state economic incentives for an Upper Peninsula copper mine, a Thomas Township solar parts plant and an enormous Genesee County industrial park were given the green light by the House Appropriations Committee Thursday.  

The Senate Appropriations Committee is now the final step in the approval process for all three Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve (SOAR) projects. If all three are approved, the fund will have $154.1 million remaining in it.  

All three projects were approved with bipartisan support and after each one was given a hearing in front of the committee. Advocates for all three explained the need for the state dollars to bring new jobs and investment into areas sorely in need of both. 

The copper mine received five no votes – Reps. Jason Morgan (D-Ann Arbor), Sarah L. Lightner (R-Springport), Ann Bollin (R-Brighton), Andrew Fink (R-Osseo) and Donni Steele (R-Lake Orion). The Corning project received seven no votes – Reps. Lightner, Bollin, Fink, Steele, Ken Borton (R-Gaylord), Cam Cavitt (R-Cheboygan) and Tom Kuhn (R-Troy). The Flint project received nine no votes – Reps. Lightner, Bollin, Fink, Steele, Borton, Kuhn, Bradley Slagh (R-Zeeland), Timothy Beson (R-Bay City) and Bill G. Schuette (R-Midland).  

Appropriations Committee members didn’t debate the projects during committee. Lightner issued a statement after the vote in which she bemoaned the lack of information surrounding the three projects, particularly the one in Genesee County, where it's not clear who, if anyone, is going to come to this enormous site once the homes are torn down and the land is flattened. 

Once this money is used to bring water and sewer to the site, she projects that more money will be asked for to lure companies to the site. 

During Senate session, Sen. Thomas Albert (R-Lowell) laid into the proposals during his statement to the chamber, particularly the large Genesee County industrial park. 

Albert said he was once open to the idea of state involvement in economic development projects. Now, he said he wants SOAR disbanded. 

“I saw it not as the ideal, but necessary in a world where many governments engage in it,” he said. "I thought we could construct a process which applied prudence and sound judgment to investment decisions. I now see my optimism was misplaced, which is why I want to disband the Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve process entirely. 

“Simply put, big government planners are not good at making investment decisions. They chase the deal and not the return. They overpay massively because it's not their money.” 

The three projects approved by the House Appropriations Committee today were: 

- $250 million to clear more than 1,000 acres (roughly the size of Lathrup Village, Stockbridge, Algonac and about 300 other small Michigan cities) of mostly farmland in Mundy Township to prepare it for still-to-announced industries in the EV battery, semiconductor, clean tech/energy and defense/aerospace industries.  

- $97 million in combined money to bring in New York-based Corning, which is looking to invest $900 million in a Richland Township (Saginaw County) site to build the parts needed to make solar panels. The project includes $68 million to build the facility and $29 million to make the public water and sewer connections work.  

- $50 million for Highland Copper to dig a new copper mine in Gogebic County. Today’s electronic components need copper, and the Upper Peninsula still has some untapped deposits, according to InvestUP.