OD's Nanotech Nonsense . . .

The OD editors are up to their usual blame-shifting when the performance of their friends is in question: Our view: Army Corps must act now on Marcy site. The OD is wrong.

There is no wetlands permit for the Marcy "Nano" site because Local Leaders chose that route.

Back on 12/11/2002, a "Concerned Citizen" wrote to local officials on this very issue:

A few days ago I wrote to you to express my concern that Oneida County might be losing an opportunity to land a chip-fab plant at the site in Marcy. Today an article in the Utica O-D revealed that Mohawk Valley EDGE's permit application for the site faced rejection by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE), that EDGE officials applied for the permit Oct. 29, 2001, and that EDGE will now wait until it finds a developer before it resubmits the application.

Oneida County for months has represented the Marcy site as "shovel-ready" for computer chip fabrication. "Shovel-ready" (according to the "Semi-NY" website, one place where the Marcy site is advertised) means that "no permitting obstacles stand in a company 's way" and that the site will be "available for groundbreaking within 60-90 days."

Today's article begs the question: Is our site "shovel-ready" or not? The fact that EDGE's application to ACOE has been pending for over a year with still no approval suggests that it is not.

In light of the County's advertisements on the "Semi-NY" and MVEdge websites, today's OD article makes it appear that the County has been distributing misleading information. Why is the County indicating that its site is "shovel ready" when it has no permit from ACOE and has known for well over a year that it needed a permit? Can Oneida County assure prospective tenants that the site will be available for groundbreaking within 60-90 days? Should prospective businesses rely on the information that Oneida County provides?

Putting aside the issue of the County's credibility, why is the County giving up pursuing the ACOE permit NOW? Is ACOE saying that the County has no right to provide a "shovel-ready" site? I doubt it: ACOE cannot forbid without qualification any encroachment on the wetlands without effectively condemning the property. Given that we have a Republican County Executive, a Republican Congressman (one of the most senior members in the House), a Republican President, and, perhaps most important, a Republican Governor who has been pushing the Semi-NY "shovel-ready" concept, it is incredible that Oneida County does not have the "clout" to cut through the federal red-tape. Did the County bother to ask for help?

These questions need to be answered.

As I indicated in my last letter, Oneida County's big advantage in seeking a chip-fab is having a site ready NOW. When other sites closer to Albany come on line, it will be difficult for us to compete.

The County needs to resolve the ACOE permit issue, and pursue chip-fab companies, NOW.

[Prior and followup e-mails are here and here]

Amazingly, among the multitude of recipients of the above e-mail, only Mrs. Destito had the courtesy to respond regarding the concern over the lack of an ACOE permit. After acknowledging that the points raised in the e-mail were valid, she stated:

However, I do agree with the decision of the Mohawk Valley EDGE officials to wait until a specific business expresses an interest in the area to apply for the Army Corps of Engineers site permit. . .

Mrs. Destito's letter confirms that shelving the permit application was "the decision of the Mohawk Valley EDGE officials."

There is no wetlands permit for the Marcy "Nano" site because Local Leaders chose that route.

AMD Splitting?

Today's ZD.net reported this story: Asset smart? AMD moves manufacturing off its balance sheet; Bolsters capital

AMD said Tuesday that it will split off its manufacturing operations in a deal with the Advanced Technology Investment Company of Abu Dhabi. . . .

When the dealing is done in early 2009, AMD will become a chip design firm and its former manufacturing operations will be lumped into an entity called “The Foundry Company,” a temporary name . . . AMD’s liquidity was hampered by expensive manufacturing operations.

Hmm . . . Expensive manufacturing operations like the one proposed for Luther Forest in Malta, NY near Saratoga? . . .the one we "lost"? Surely anything made in New York State would have to be expensive to support all our government spending.

AMD’s move to separate its manufacturing and design units–dubbed Asset Smart–has been on the drawing board for a while and details have been hard to come by.

That may explain why, so long after Joe Bruno won the chip fab for his region, AMD has yet to commit to the deal in writing.

The Capital District Business Review has a more optimistic story.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see if the state's putting so many eggs in the high-tech basket will pay off. (And as for spinoffs? ..."Fuggeddaboudditt" . . .)

Shovel Ready?

Per the Times Union AMD has just filed papers with the Towns of Malta and Stillwater, hoping to obtain a building permit for its $3.2B chip fab plant . . . "by the end of December."

I guess even Joe Bruno cannot make the wheels of local government in New York State turn that fast.

Of course, AMD has yet to decide to officially commit to the project . . .

An agreement with the state gives AMD until July 31, 2009, to move ahead with the project and still be eligible for $1.2 billion in incentives for the plant.

Do you wonder what ever happened to the Pataki-era concept of sites being pre-permitted so that projects would be ready to turn the shovel within 90 days of closing?

- o 0 o -

Here's a little news clip out of Plattsburgh: Bombardier is looking at US locations for assembling planes now that the dollar has gotten so cheap. It seems that we have a location tailor made for this kind of business in Utica-Rome . . . maybe even two locations (if we could dump that ridiculous Homeland Security School). . . and a local workforce training program in the aviation field to boot.

Will MV EDGE put in a bid?

EDGE: A Chance to Redeem Itself

I have been critical of EDGE, finding its performance over the years in reference to the Chip-Fab lackluster and, perhaps, worse.

There may be an opportunity for EDGE to redeem itself.

Apparently our competitors in Saratoga County were not quite "shovel ready" for a Chip-Fab either. Per last Friday's Albany Business Review:

The Saratoga Economic Development Corp. has secured many of the permits required for the project.

"There are a lot of approvals in place," Tozzi said. "The generic environmental impact statement is in place. However, they still need to go through the site plan review process." [emphasis added]

Let's see if EDGE can pull off a coup.

EDGE: That Was Some Lesson!

This week we learned that the Marcy 'Nanotech' (nee 'Chip-Fab') Wetland Permit has cost $300,000 so far, and EDGE still does not have the permit.

But it (or the lack thereof) was really much more costly . . .

It's been seven years since Marcy town officials gave their backing to a zoning change allowing construction of a computer chip fabrication, or chip fab, plant on the site.

Since then, the Albany area has become a world leader in the field of nanotechnology . . .

In 2006, Advanced Micro Devices spent time considering the Marcy site before choosing a location in Saratoga County to build a plant that will employ hundreds.

Mohawk Valley officials learned from that experience that not having a federal wetlands permit presented a hurdle that an interested company would have to wait to clear.

Mohawk Valley officials had to learn from "experience" that the lack of a permit was a hurdle? Didn't they understand what "shovel ready" meant?

Left out of the story is the fact that EDGE shelved its Wetlands Permit application in 2002, and the County Executive (Eannace), Board of Legislators, Mrs. Destito and other elected officials apparently thought this was just fine . . . And it did not matter that we had one of the most powerful Republican Congressmen representing us: no Army Corps of Engineers Permit for Marcy.

As I posted previously:

"In the early 2000s timing was what Oneida County had to offer above everyone else. Our competition was still in the design stage and had significant hurdles (water supply and public acceptance) to overcome. But Oneida County EDGE's performance was significantly less than flawless . . . They were less than aggressive. Permitting was allowed to go unfinished. The lack of the federal wetland permit would have held any project up for months. In spite of the promise of being "shovel ready," it was not. Now our competition has surpassed us."

The question that needs to be answered is: "Why was the wetlands permit application shelved?" Was it ignorance, stupidity, incompetence, laziness, bad advice (from whom?) . . . or were they told to shelve it?

The headline should have read: "Nanotech's permit cost: One Lost Chip -Fab Plant."

A Nano Dose of Reality . . .

Another recycled story on the Marcy Chip-Fab (now called "Nanotech") Site appeared today that served as a platform to reprise what has become typical Oneida County double-talk:

"The Marcy site is still considered shovel-ready, even though between $18 and $20 million in sewer, water and road infrastructure improvements are needed."

--- and even though the money for them has yet to be found, and even though a Federal wetlands permit is required before improvements can be started.

Only in Oneida County's world of suspended reality can the site even remotely be considered "shovel ready" (which used to mean ready to start construction within 90 days). [This is reminiscent of Mr. Picente's response last month to the question of whether there was raw sewage floating in the Mohawk: "No, not in the least. I think over the last two years what they call 92 occurrences possibly." The cognitive dissonance will give you a headache!]

EDGE's Mr. DiMeo seems to think that coming in second place in the AMD Chip Fabrication sweepstakes bodes well for our future -- but is he being realistic? Buried in the article is a word of caution:

"Still, without a nearby cluster of similar companies with which to collaborate, it will be a challenge to attract the nanotechnology industry, said Kathryn R. Harrigan, a Henry R. Kravis Professor of Business Leadership at Columbia University who has worked as a consultant to semiconductor firms."

"New York has a growing base of standout nanotechnology firms and college research centers — Albany NanoTech at the University of Albany, Cornell NanoScale Science & Technology Facility in Ithaca, SEMATECH North in Albany, IBM in East Fishkill."

"But with the closest more than 90 miles away from Marcy, they aren't close enough to form a cluster with the town, she said."

With AMD ready to "play" in Luther Forest at a site that can host 4 chip-fabs, there is now less incentive for a company to look here. The center for nano-activity has been established 90 miles to the east. Furthermore, AMD is being given $1 Billion in state subsidies plus another $300 million in site improvements. Is it realistic to expect the people of New York State to make a similar investment a second time in Marcy? Can Marcy still be considered a "world-class" site without a subsidy?

In the early 2000s timing was what Oneida County had to offer above everyone else. Our competition was still in the design stage and had significant hurdles (water supply and public acceptance) to overcome. But Oneida County EDGE's performance was significantly less than flawless . . . They were less than aggressive. Permitting was allowed to go unfinished. The lack of the federal wetland permit would have held any project up for months. In spite of the promise of being "shovel ready," it was not. Now our competition has surpassed us.

When timing was everything, the County may have missed the boat - forever.

Data Centers, Chip Fabs and Water On the Brain

A recent article in "The Communicator," a publication of the Public Employees Federation, reveals that the State had better be ready for a fight if it continues with its Pataki-era plan to move state data operations from Albany to Utica. The union claimed that the project was not financially feasible when first proposed at a $75 million cost. Now the estimate is $99.5 million. Does it make any sense for a new administration to take on this mounting cost?

As much as the data center would be a shot in the arm for the Utica area, the state should not do this if it makes no sense financially and otherwise ... just like it makes no sense to for the state to spend an extra $300 million to prepare Luther Forest for the AMD chip fab plant when Marcy is ready now.

In that vein, our new county executive, Mr. Picente, was heard on WIBX this weekend offering a new excuse on why Marcy lost the chip fab: the water fight between the Mohawk Valley Water Authority and the State Canal Corp. Of course that is rubbish. (1) The Marcy site already has a water supply, while Luther Forest has to develop a new one (groundwater supplies there are inadequate). (2) The Water Authority is already permitted to serve the Marcy site (as MVWA's service area map makes clear), so there is no permit application for the water fight to hold up. (3) If the Water Authority does not continue with its expansionist plans in the western part of the County (like serving Turning Stone, Vernon and Sherrill), there is plenty of water within the capacity of the existing treatment plant to serve Greater Utica, including the Marcy chip fab site.

That Mr. Picente seems to be making new excuses for our losing the chip fab, and, simultaneously, siding with MVWA on the water fight (to the detriment of future Greater Utica and Herkimer County residents) makes it apparent that he is beholden to the same politics and special interests as his last (at least) 2 predecessors.

Same old same old . . . .

Chip . . . Not So Fab?

In all the post-election euphoria (or depression as the case may be) this little story about about the Chip Fab plant that we "lost" to Saratoga County should not be overlooked. Susan Lawrence of the Hudson Mohawk Group of the Sierra Club has come out against putting the Chip Fab there.

""We just think it's an unwise use of the public's money when you have to build infrastructure and encourage sprawl," Lawrence said. . . .
"Lawrence and other activists argued upstate communities such as Utica, Marcy, Schenectady and Troy need development, and sites in those cities would have a less impact on the environment, she said."

Obviously we agree ... and we already know that the taxpayer would save $300 million in infrastructure costs by putting the Chip Fab here in Marcy.

"The company said it plans to create 1,205 jobs by 2014."

2014? Did we hear that right? 2014 is 7 years from now. Seven years is an eternity when computers are concerned. It will be anyone's guess if the plant will even be viable by then.

Some math helps put things in perspective. Divide the hoped-for jobs by 7 and it works out to adding an average of about 172 jobs per year. 172 ? We seem to lose that that number of jobs locally several times a year.

We love math. Here's the real interesting calculation: Divide the $1.2 Billion in taxpayer funded assistance by the number of jobs we will wait 7 years for and we come up with almost a Million Dollars per job. . . .again, that's Taxpayer Dollars mind you.

Yep. If our elected officials are going to throw that kind of money around, we want it thrown our way . . . and if they cared about the taxpayers, they should want it thrown our way, too, since they will get more "bang for the buck" here.

However, the whole idea of lavishing such huge sums to benefit one company is disturbing (if not illegal under Article VIII of the State Constitution -- but who's watching? Apparently not the Attorney General or the Comptroller). Wouldn't this money be better spent by leaving it in the taxpayer's pockets? Given the common knowledge that NY Taxes are what drives businesses out of state, wouldn't leaving the money with the taxpayers achieve better economic results? Why should other business segments be forced to subsidize nanotech? Like Rockefeller a generation ago, perhaps our elected leaders have an "edifice complex" and need to leave buildings behind as a sign of their achievements. Such psychotherapy is too costly.

We know that Mr. Spitzer has mentioned spending initiatives that sound similar to Mr. Pataki's, only favoring stem cell research instead of nanotech. We hope that Mr. Spitzer's administration will rethink this approach to business development.

The "Consolation Prize" ...

Today's OD tells us that 21 acres of the SUNYIT campus are being transferred to NY Office of General Services for a State Data Center.

Is this the "Consolation Prize" for not getting the Chip Fab? Will this reduce the suitability of the Marcy Chip Fab Site? Will it eliminate Marcy as a back up site for the AMD Chip Plant? These questions remain unanswered.

In the meantime, the State of New York has become a slum lord in West Utica. If the State is unwilling to develop "brownfields," how could it expect anyone else to do so? Its approach appears to be to abandon old facilities and build on virgin land. This is bad public policy, particularly in cities such as Utica where entire neighborhoods are affected.

Another facet of this story: What are the site selection criteria? Why the big secret? At this point given the waste of public property going on in west Utica, the people are entitled to know. Perhaps the state is only doing its project on the cheap (like the homeland security facility at the County Airport) to pay a political debt . . . and everyone knows it's more expensive to build on a brownfield than virgin territory.

Same old, same old ....

[8PM update: The Rome Sentinel also has a story on this development, but the impact on the Chip Fab site's marketability and its status as a "backup" for AMD's Luther Forest project are again not mentioned. Fault Lines suspects there is concern by certain Albany-area officials that Luther Forest will not be able to get all its ducks in a row (particularly water availability) quickly enough to satisfy AMD, and that AMD will switch to Marcy as backup. It makes no sense that an actual transfer of the land has to be made merely to "analyze" the site's suitability for the data center -- unless the real intent is to shrink/divide/or otherwise alter the site to eliminate its qualification as "AMD's "backup." Where are there expressions of concern from Sen. Meier, Mr. Griffo, and Mr. Julian on this?]

In the Chips . . .

At least the Rome Sentinel is giving decent coverage to the emerging Chip Fab incentives story. An update is available on this from the Times-Union.

Compare this with the stories in the Utica Observer-Dispatch on June 9 and June 10 which mentioned nothing about (1) the potential number of jobs (about 1000) or (2) the potential $1 Billion in state incentives for a Saratoga County site or (3) the fact that the Saratoga County site is no where near being ready for a plant.

Marcy is ready NOW.

It should seems obvious from the Rome story that if NY wants to maximize its chances to land the AMD chip fab (over a spot in Dresden Germany) the incentives should be offered for the Marcy site, too.

Why does the O-D leave out the "meat" of this story????

Update 7AM: O-D finally has a story here. Better late than never, though all the pieces were there over a week ago. Interestingly, Sen. Meier is already coming up with excuses for a Saratoga County choice, but Fault Lines heard this one years ago when we questioned why no one seemed to be looking here. Apparently he has his marching orders. This seems to be the (Republican) "party" line that the O-D is only too ready shill for -- to purposely discourage people of the region from speaking up and demanding what we have actually earned: Our site is ready NOW. It's a guess when Saratoga County will be ready, if ever, because its proposed new water facilities will not be economical without participation of a reluctant Clifton Park Water Authority.

While Fault Lines disagrees with spending a million dollars a job (essentially turning these jobs into government jobs without the government service), if the state is going to lavish this money somewhere, it might as well do it where it will go the farthest: HERE IN MARCY.

Update 5PM: Now we learn (from the T-U) (from the O-D) (from the Ro-Sen) that AMD will be choosing Luther Forest, that Marcy would be a "back up," and that either site would work for AMD. Frankly, Fault Lines is disgusted with our local Republican leadership simply rolling over and playing dead on this because it is clearly the $billion in incentives that have made the difference -- incentives that WE are paying for on top of almost a Billion more that has been lavished on the Albany area for nanotech.

This area is always the bridesmaid, never the bride, because there is always some other region with more "clout." Our local Republican officials have shown themselves to be impotent in bringing home the bacon from Republican administrations . . . Something we will remind voters of when election day rolls around!

Chips Ahoy! ... But will our Republican leaders lay down at Albany's direction?

It was nice to receive a bit of good news this week, that Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is showing interest in the Marcy Chip Fab site. It's about time!

Four years ago we pointed out in frustration that a site in Saratoga County, Luther Forest, which hadn't even received local approvals and had a limited water supply, was receiving attention from several chip manufacturers, while our ready-to-go Marcy site was being ignored. We noted 2 years ago that people in Saratoga were opposed to their site. In spite of Marcy's shovel-readiness, and the lack of opposition here, EDGE seemed to be asleep at the switch, being less than aggressive in pursuing these potential customers. Personal communication with a county official about that time suggested that Albany wanted it that way.

Now, years later, we are competing with this same Saratoga County site. According to the Times-Union, State officials are putting together a $1 billion package of incentives
to lure AMD to the Saratoga County site -- which still is not ready (water and road improvements are still in the planning stages). As we previously pointed out, Luther Forest is dependent on groundwater sources and would have to complete an extensive project to get water from the Hudson before it would be ready (which may never happen). Marcy, however, is ready NOW!

Again, politics rears its ugly head. Roe-Ann Destito, fortunately, is on top of this one, asking that any incentive package offered for Saratoga County also be offered here, BUT WHERE ARE RAY MEIER AND JOE GRIFFO ON THIS??? They should be asking for the same consideration. Are they "playing nice" with the Albany Republican leadership to further their own careers? It would only be fair for Marcy to receive the same incentive package, especially since the Albany area has already received hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to develop nanotech.

The choice between Luther Forest or Marcy should be a no-brainer: Marcy -- because it's ready to go -- Luther Forest might never be ready.

Lets see if our Republican "leaders" speak up for their area and aggressively push Marcy .... or will they place their personal political ambitions first and remain mum?

Chip Fab

I know i've harped on this subject before -- but it's time to do it again.

An article appeared today in the Capital District Business Review titled

" Rally held to oppose Luther Forest tech campus" -- in a nutshell, there is local opposition out Saratoga way to their tech park which appears to be beating us to landing a chip fab even though we got started much much earlier and supposedly had a "shovel ready" site in Marcy.

Read the article at:

http://albany.bizjournals.com/albany/stories/2004/01/05/daily50.html?jst=b_ln_hl

Our EDGE people seem to be asleep and they need to wake up .. and be more AGGRESSIVE....

While it might seem unseemly to point out another area's shortcomings, our EDGE officials should at least be there making a pitch to the chip manufacturers who have already toured and tentatively selected Luther Forest -- no community oppostion here ...

...Or is this too much to expect?

See prior posting at

http://groups.msn.com/UticaAreaDiscussions/general.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=3156&LastModified=4675375675868256283&all_topics=0

[For FOLLOWUP COMMENTS see Utica Area Discussions]

Technorati Tags: Mohawk+Valley Economic+Development Government

Where's Our Chip Fab?

According to the Albany Times Union on 6/4, a $2 Bil, 2000-employee chip fab plant is expected to be the first tenant in the proposed Luther Forest Technology Campus, according to plans submitted by the Saratoga Economic Development Corp. Four to six companies have expressed an interest in locating at the campus site on the Malta-Stillwater town line if the planned development district is approved. According to the article, the two town boards must still approve a development district for the development to happen.

I believe that Lurher Forest has rather limited water supplies -- a necessity for a chip fab.

We are way ahead, it would seem, on getting a chip fab here .... at least in so far as having a site ready to go. And there is no question that we have adequate water supplies.

Haven't heard a thing about companies showing interest here, even though we have more to offer.
EDGE needs to jump on this -- ferret these 4-6 companies out -- and beat out Saratoga!

[For FOLLOWUP COMMENTS see The Pulse]

Technorati Tags: Mohawk+Valley Economic+Development Government