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12/12/2008 10:43:00 AM
Greenville back in national news
Ryan Jeltema
News Editor
GREENVILLE - After garnering national attention when Electrolux closed its Greenville operation 2.5 years ago, the area is poised to receive some positive press this evening.
An NBC crew led by the network's chief environmental correspondent, Anne Thompson, visited United Solar Ovonic and Montcalm Community College's Michigan Technical Education Center (M-TEC) in Greenville this week for a segment about turning around the economy with alternative energy manufacturing jobs.
The two- to three-minute broadcast is tentatively scheduled to air during the "NBC Nightly News" at 6:30 p.m. today.
"We're crossing our fingers that no late-breaking news will knock us off the air," said Mark Trinske, spokesman for Energy Conversion Devices Inc. (ECD) in Rochester Hills, the parent company of Auburn Hills-based United Solar Ovonic.
Greenville last made national headlines as a poster child for the ills of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) when Electrolux shut down its 1.7 million-square-foot plant here and shifted 2,781 jobs to Juarez, Mexico, and Anderson, S.C.
Tonight's segment, part of NBC's "Our Planet" series, portrays Greenville as a success story in the transition to manufacturing clean energy.
Thompson interviewed ECD President and Chief Executive Officer Mark Morelli, former Electrolux and current United Solar Ovonic Plant Controller Norice Thorlund Rasmussen and Montcalm Community College President Donald Burns.
Thompson and the crew then traveled to Lansing for an interview with Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who has been touring the country promoting the positive economic effects of alternative energy.
The crew spent a day shooting footage inside one of United Solar Ovonic's Greenville plants and in Ken Clise's vacuum technology class at M-TEC.
"They were looking at how you can move from old manufacturing - metal bending - to green manufacturing with green jobs," Burns explained.
Trinske said the crew explored the issue of how United Solar Ovonic has made a positive impact in helping turn around Greenville's economy with hundreds of jobs manufacturing solar panels.
"It's nice to be recognized," he said. "It's nice to see this go to a national platform."
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Posted: Sunday, December 14, 2008
Article comment by:
mal
Did this actually even air on that day? I watched and seen nothing.
Posted: Saturday, December 13, 2008
Article comment by:
Kathi Geukes
It's great that hundreds got jobs with Solar Ovonic but what about the rest of us?? I need to remind everyone that almost 3,ooo people lost their jobs and I know quite a few that have left the area because there are no jobs. If you call waiting for 3 interviews for Mickey D's a job then maybe it's time for the city manager to retire.
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