Idaho got played. Suppose for strategic reasons a corporation wants to build a nuclear facility. The worst strategy is to go hat-in-hand to the state in question begging for incentives. An optimal strategy is to generate a bidding war even if only one bidder is preferred.
AREVA did this. They dangled a possible Richland site at Idaho and they were able to obtain a nice package of sweeteners for their new enrichment facility. The ploy was made convincing when TriDEC, the Tri-City Herald staff, the Rossi campaign, and other community leaders bought the bluff completely. There was one party who was clearly smarter-than-the-average-bear and stayed out of the game, Governor Christine Gregoire. The political climate is such that she could have done nothing to create sufficient additional advantages for AREVA to seriously consider Washington. Imagine the furor from the nuclear-ignorant West side that the company would face if a new nuclear facility was announced here.
TriDEC saw dollar signs and jobs and bit on that fly like a brainless trout. And Rossi supporters are using it to vilify the governor. I would much rather have a smarter-than-the-average bear for a governor than a brainless trout.
2 comments:
As someone who covered the Areva deal, perhaps more extensively than anyone else, I have to disagree. Areva wanted the Richland site first because of its proximity to a nuclear fuel fabrication plant. In fact, one of Areva's executives came very close to spilling the beans early last March.
http://djysrv.blogspot.com/2008/03/is-areva-tipping-its-hand-for-richland.html
When Washngton Governor Christine Gregoire lectured Areva executives on waste issues, they realized that plan "B" was their next choice. Areva said plainly, and many times,they would not go where they were not wanted. This is why Piketon, OH, was taken off the table.
http://djysrv.blogspot.com/2008/03/piketon-oh-is-potential-site-for-areva.html
Areva's long delay in announcing a decision was very likely the result of the site selection team having to justify to a cost conscious board why it was not going with the Richland site.
As for the Governor's tactics, she played to her political base, which is west of the Cascades, and gave Richland the back of hand. Idaho was not "played," but we certainly do thank the Governor in any case. We wanted the enrichment plant. She did not. It is that simple,
I guess you can believe that if you want to. But the scuttlebutt I heard was that the decision had already been made before the governor was even involved.
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