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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2015 - 2016
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | March 2, 2015 04:41 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Lisa M. Boscola |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Protection for Cement and Concrete Industries |
| In the near future, I will be offering a resolution that will seek to protect Pennsylvania manufacturing jobs in our cement and concrete industries. I invite you to join me as a co-sponsor. Across Pennsylvania, there are a number of active cement plants. Our state has a rich heritage in manufacturing cement, including in the Lehigh Valley. Jobs within this industry are skilled, family-sustaining jobs, but these plants and businesses are under threat by a proposed cement plant in the Province of Quebec that will have a huge subsidy from the provincial government. The legislature of Quebec has authorized over $550 million in grants and loans to McInnis Cement to build a cement plant, with the majority of the product to be shipped to the United States. This could potentially take a significant portion of the overall market. A large portion of the project, along with preferred pricing on electricity, will be subsidized by Quebec taxpayers. Without this public funding package it is unlikely that the plant would be built. My resolution would express the Senate's concern over this huge, foreign taxpayer-funded threat to Pennsylvania jobs directly to the United States Trade Representative (USTR) and urge the USTR, Ambassador Michael Froman, to review this matter and see if there are any potential violations of world trade rules. |
Introduced as SR58