Did we really win?

Something happened yesterday that probably didn't get much press outside of Alabama and Louisiana but it is quite a big deal here. The German steel company ThyssenKrupp AG "picked" Mobile, Alabama as the site for it's new steel plant. The two finalists were Mobile, AL and a site in Louisiana. You can read a little more here. The financial packages offered by the two states were astronomical. It was all about getting the jobs to come rather than collecting the taxes. It could be an honorable idea to get more jobs in Alabama but I feel the offsetting consequences are going to do more harm than good. You'll have to indulge me in a little naivete and "save the world" ideals for this blog entry.

I gues I take issue with the entire concept. Essentially most manufacturing is moving out of the northeast and Midwest because it's becoming too expensive (to have the desired profits). Detroit has been in a free fall for several years. So, if the manufacturing jobs are staying within the U.S. (which many are not) the Southeast seems to be the "in" area. This is mostly because its cheaper here and (what really bothers me) is that the environmental regulations here are either nonexistent or very minimal. There are already several Superfund sites in Alabama. It is not that I'm against jobs and on top of that, America is hemorrhaging manufacturing jobs that will most likely affect our position in the world in the future. However, this situation has played out so many times in the past. Large company comes into area, pollutes land & water, many people living around area experience much higher than normal rates of cancer, plant & animal populations suffer, company closes up and leaves without having to remediate the site, taxpayers pay to clean up site. I can't really see how this one is going to be any different. Crazy idea....how about holding those companies accountable?.....o wait, that will affect their profits.....we can't have that now, can we? However, those companies will pay lawyers millions of dollars to stave off any lawsuits brought against them by the families who are experiencing all types of odd sicknesses and that they should not be held accountable for gross environmental affects. They will pay the lawyers to prove that it wasn't the company who caused the sicknesses or the environmental hazards. Yeah right.

The other thing that I feel is unfortunate is that this will not increase the need for a higher level education in Alabama. It would be great if Alabama could get some high-tech companies to come into the state who may provide the jobs but not the pollution, but that doesn't seem to be what will happen. It is a chicken or the egg syndrome. You need a lot of educated people to have a company come, but you need to have the jobs to provide a basis for the education.

There are many things to think about in this situation but to me it comes back to: Is it safe to drink the water or plant vegetables in the ground? How many people are going to have to get treatment for cancer and other diseases? Is it worth the "cost"?