Oklahoma Passed Over For Volkswagen Deal, Lawmakers Wonder Why

Oklahoma was once again passed up for a huge economic opportunity. Volkswagen announced they are building their new battery plant in Canada, a plant the state was trying to bring to Pryor as part of Project Connect.

The opportunity would have brought thousands of jobs to the state and millions in revenue. Now lawmakers are looking at what went wrong in hopes of landing the next big economic deal.

The LEAD Act, commonly known as Project Connect, was the first bill signed into law this session. For months tight-lipped, due to non-disclosure agreements, lawmakers could not confirm on the record which company they were trying to bring to Oklahoma, although many caught word that it may be Volkswagen.

Volkswagen announced Monday that they had decided to build their North American plant in Canada, instead of Oklahoma, when lawmakers confirmed for the first time the German company was in fact who they were trying to bring in.

Governor Stitt called the announcement disappointing but said, “We are right back to work pursuing additional opportunities in the pipeline.”

This decision comes less than a year after Project Ocean, a similar economic opportunity that Oklahoma was passed over for. This project was also top-secret and was outed when the company Panasonic chose Kansas over Oklahoma.

“Finishing second place or getting a participation trophy is not good enough,” said President Pro Tem Greg Treat.

After both deals fell through, lawmakers are now questioning why these big companies aren’t choosing Oklahoma.

“Is it something we're lacking in commerce? Is it something we're lacking in workforce? What did Ontario do? Where are we falling short? What did Kansas do? What determined the ultimate outcome of these,” questioned Treat.

Volkswagen said in a statement, “Canada offers ideal conditions, including the local supply of raw materials and wide access to clean electricity,” going on to say “Canada and Ontario are perfect partners for scaling up our battery business and green economy jobs, as we share the same values of sustainability, responsibility and cooperation.” 

House Minority Leader Cindy Munson said in a statement, "We need to redirect our focus to the proven ways to grow and develop our workforce: ensure quality health care and a strong public school system.” 

The democratic representative went on to say, “The Republican Leadership’s hostility towards anyone that is different from them is costing Oklahomans good, high-paying jobs.”

“Reflecting on what went wrong, my hunch is that it is not a winning economic strategy to have a secretary of education who demeans higher education and actively works to dismantle public education,” said Munson.

The representative from Pryor, John Gann, was opposed to the plant coming to the area from the beginning.

“I'm listening to the businesses that are already there, and it will devastate the businesses that are already doing manufacturing in the park,” said Gann, (R) Pryor.

Some question whether the Pryor representative's opposition to the plant coming to his district led Volkswagen to rethink Oklahoma.

While there are many different theories as to why Oklahoma is not getting picked, Treat is now working to find the specifics on what is holding Oklahoma back.

“As far as the legislature is concerned, each time we've had one of these, we've done everything that's been asked of us, and we’ve still fallen short. So, I wanna look into that and figure out why that is,” said Treat.

President Pro Tem Greg Treat is creating a taskforce to try to pinpoint why these companies aren’t choosing Oklahoma.

“We just gotta figure out how to become more competitive and actually land these,” said Treat.

This will be a bipartisan group that works to get to the bottom of why Oklahoma cannot land a big economic deal, in hopes of tying down the next deal that looks at coming to the state.

The committee will study the current economic landscape in Oklahoma in an attempt to attract more employers and major investments in Oklahoma.

In a statement he said: 

“Oklahoma has abundant resources, qualified employees and a legislature and executive branch that is friendly to the business community,” said Pro Tem Treat. “We have a history of going out of our way to offer advantages other states cannot. There is no reason for us to continuously lose out to another state in this country on major business developments. That is why I am determined to find the common denominator as to why we aren’t being chosen and figure out how we can become more attractive to businesses looking to expand or relocate. We will hear from business experts, company executives, state officials and everyone else to make Oklahoma more attractive to major employers.”