Figures. Obama Hypes Green Energy Plant That’s Shifting Operations to China


U.S. President Barack Obama shakes hands with employees as he tours a North Carolina manufacturing facility of energy efficient LED lights, Cree Inc., in Raleigh-Durham, June 13, 2011. From L-R are: Obama, Matthew Rose, CEO of GE Jeffrey Immelt and Chairman and CEO of Cree, Inc. Charles M. Swoboda. (REUTERS/Larry Downing)

Obama is traveling to North Carolina today to plug another green energy company. The company received $39 million in tax credits and at least $6 million in grants from the Department of Energy. Cree makes LED lighting products.
And, it’s shifting operations to China.
The Daily Caller reported:

President Barack Obama will visit the North Carolina-based Cree LED Light Company Monday to tour the plant and meet with his Council on Jobs and Competitiveness to discuss job creation and policies to spur economic growth. But Cree, a major recipient of Recovery Act funds, may be sending that money straight to China.

At the very least, its CEO, Chuck Swoboda, has a very China-centered strategy that involves building a new plant overseas, two facts that the Republican National Committee plans to highlight Monday morning prior to the president’s visit. Cree received a $39 million as an Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit from the Recovery Act.

The company began developing clean energy technology, hired a few more hundred workers, and the administration touted it as a “true American success story” on the White House Web site. Then in late 2010, the company opened its first plant in Huizhou City,China. That made Cree the first global LED company to locate a manufacturing plant in China…

“This is just another example of an administration that talks about an economy that has turned around while ignoring what is happening to American families who are struggling to find jobs, pay higher food and gas prices and are dealing with the decline of their home value,” one Republican source told The Daily Caller.

Experts say that Obama’s visit today highlights his failed economic policies.

“It’s ironic that Obama’s jobs panel is meeting at the headquarters of a company that received millions of dollars of taxpayer money. Rising unemployment is evidence that Obama’s clean energy plan did not work as he had hoped, yet the president is stubbornly adhering to his fantasy of creating a clean energy economy,” said Tom Borelli, Ph.D., director of the National Center’s Free Enterprise Project.

“The failure of Obama’s job’s panel is really not surprising since the group is packed with green energy and cap-and-trade cheerleaders such as GE CEO Jeff Immelt, green energy venture capitalist John Doerr, DuPont CEO Ellen Kullman and NextEra Energy CEO Lewis Hay,” added Tom Borelli.

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Jim Hoft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016. In 2023, The Gateway Pundit received the Most Trusted Print Media Award at the American Liberty Awards.

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