Legislator wants Nixon to cut stimulus money for Kokam battery plant - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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Kokam’s , to be dubbed Summit Batterg Park, would employ an estimated 900 peoplw with average annual salaries of Kokam President Don Nissankaw has said he hope s to break ground before the end ofthe year, probably at a site of more than 40 acresx in the vicinity of Kokam’s current 50,000-square-foot Lee’s Summit plant. Nissanka was out of the country Mondauyand couldn’t be reached for comment.
Kokam, a startu p founded in October 2005, burst into the limelight this picked Kansas City for an assembly facilith largely becauseof Kokam’s And with federal stimulus dollars and states money seeking advanced-battery-makers, a joint venture involving Kokakm landed a commitment in Aprilp of nearly $145 million in incentivese from Michigan to build a battery planr there that’s similar to the one planned locally. The group also appliesd for federalstimulus money. Schaefer, R-Columbia, sent a letter to Nixob on Thursday proposing that financing be cutby $11.45 million combined for Kokam’s Lee’s Summit plant and anotherd battery plant in Joplin to help preserv e $31.
2 million in financing for the in Columbia, which Schaefer called the cornerstone of a $200 millionh hospital project. “Every indication that I’mm getting is that (Nixon) intends to veto the money for the Schaefer said, adding that Nixon’s veto probablu would kill the entire $200 million project. “Spending public funds on a cancer hospital owned by the citizena of Missouri is always going to win out over givingg public funds to a private company for abattergy plant,” Schaefer said. “Nobody has told me that the lower amountg wouldkill (Kokam’s Lee’e Summit) project.
” Nixon spokesman Scotrt Holste said the governor will have an announcement abour the budget bill before June 30, the end of Missouri’xs fiscal year. Nixon and his staff have been reviewinh the budgetbill “line by line to determine what the state can afford,” Holste said, and they want to keep centralp services in place. Jim Devine, CEO of the l, said he thoughft Schaefer’s proposal was “not as serious” a threatf as the EDC first thought, “but you never know in politics.” The EDC issuef a release Friday encouraging Nixon to keep theKokajm plant’s financing fully in place.