New plant going to Michigan

Federal lawmakers pulled strings for a Japanese company that had applied for a generous U.S. Department of Energy grant, proposing to spend that money to open a car battery plant near Goose Creek.

Their efforts worked, but company executives later decided to take the $35 million in grant money -- and the promise of 60 well-paying jobs -- to Michigan.

Toda America Inc.'s decision left local economic development leaders and elected officials feeling snubbed and set back as they work to replace some of the 1,500 or so manufacturing jobs that have seeped out of the Charleston economy since the recession began.

"Everybody was doing whatever they could to encourage it," said Berkeley County supervisor Dan Davis, whose staff encouraged company officials to build the plant at an industrial site in Bushy Park.

U.S. Rep. Henry Brown, a 1st District Republican who announced Monday that he won't run for re-election, called the company's decision to relocate a great disappointment. Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, who teamed up with Brown and U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson to write a letter in support of the company, echoed the sentiment.

"This would have been an important investment for South Carolina and would have created much-needed jobs in the community," said spokesman Kevin Bishop in a statement. "At the end of the day, the company did what they felt to be in their best interests."

In August, Energy Department officials announced that Toda, a Japanese company with a Chicago-based U.S. subsidiary, had won a $35 million grant, roughly half the cost of a new battery plant the group had proposed to build. The facility would make cathode material for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries -- the same kind that help power the popular Toyota Prius hybrid car.

The money was part of $2.4 billion given out to several dozen companies for developing car battery technology, part of the Obama administration's effort to push electric car production and stabilize the national economy.

Local economic development officials said they knew Toda officials were looking at several possible plant sites across the country, including the Bushy Park tract. But the Lowcountry seemed to have won the project when Toda officials listed South Carolina on the official grant application as the location for the plant.

Several weeks after the announcement, company officials broke the news to local and federal leaders: Michigan had won out. They told representatives that they wanted to be closer to auto manufacturers, to whom they supply the batteries.

An Energy Department representative said grant award recipients are allowed to take the money to different locations within the United States.

David Han, a Michigan-based consultant for Toda on the project, declined to comment.

Reach Katy Stech at 937-5549 or kstech@postand courier.com.