Mitsubishi to the United States

With all of the jobs that have left Fort Smith in the last few years, the new Mitsubishi factory will be a welcome addition to this city by providing jobs, helping reduce our effect on the environment once the turbines are produced, and by reducing our dependence on imported turbines from other countries.  Not only will Arkansas benefit from this plant, but the country as a whole will also see the advantages of this new form of energy.  Mitsubishi Power Systems is going to begin their plant construction in the fall of 2010 and hopes to be producing their product by 2012.  The hundred million dollar facility that is to be built at Fort Chaffee was chosen over the other fifty-nine cities that were selected as candidates by Mitsubishi because of Fort Smith’s extensive array of transportation options, including I-40, the railways, and by the Arkansas River.  Local businesses will also benefit from the new plant, as Mitsubishi plans to use nearby suppliers for parts, including one of the largest makers of electric motors in the United States, Baldor Electric Corporation.

Since Mitsubishi has decided to open their new plant in Fort Smith, it is going to create many jobs in this area.  The plant construction will provide an estimated two hundred jobs, and once the plant is built the workforce could expand to around five hundred employees.  With Whirlpool being in the process of closing down their plant here in town and moving their plant operations to Mexico, the Mitsubishi plant will help provide the people of Fort Smith with more job opportunities.  Although, bringing a foreign country’s business into the United States has raised a few arguments.

Different people of the United States have seen the good and the bad sides of bringing a foreign country’s plant operations into the states.  This is a problem to some Americans because they do not want foreign countries developing their company in the United States and us (Americans) working for foreigners within our own borders.  On the other hand, since this plant will be opening in the states, it will bring many jobs to not just Arkansans but to the other citizens in different areas of the United States which will ultimately help the stagnant economy that we are in known as the recession.  I personally think that Mitsubishi coming to the states is a great opportunity for not only jobs, but for a “greener cause”.

The wind turbine systems that Mitsubishi Power Systems will be building are going to be very beneficial and have great advantages.  Wind energy is fueled by the wind, so it's a clean fuel source, and wind energy doesn't pollute the air like power plants that rely on combustion of fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas.  Wind turbines don't produce atmospheric emissions that cause acid rain or greenhouse gasses either as opposed to your traditional power plant.  This energy relies on the renewable power of the wind, which can't be used up since the wind is always blowing in abundance throughout the United States.  Wind is actually a form of solar energy; in which the heating of the atmosphere by the sun, the rotation of the earth, and the earth’s surface irregularities cause winds to form.  This particular type of energy is one of the lowest-priced renewable energy technologies available today, costing between 4 and 6 cents per kilowatt-hour, depending upon the wind resource.  These turbines can be built on farms or ranches, thus benefiting the economy in rural areas, where most of the best wind sites are found.  Farmers and ranchers can continue to work the land because the wind turbines use only a fraction of the property.  Wind power plant owners make rent payments to the farmer or rancher for the use of the land, therefore the rancher and the owner of the turbines make a profit.

Now that the United States will have a wind turbine plant in which turbines will be assembled we will no longer have to import them.  This is going to aid our trade in the United States, because we will not have to import as much and furthermore we will be able to export more, which can help our poor economy in many ways.  Many of the Fort Smith people are excited and looking forward to a new company coming into town, despite whether its foreign owned or not, and are ready to begin plant construction since many other large manufacturing plants are moving their plant operations elsewhere out of the Arkansas River Valley area.

--Taylor Vann