Helping Businesses Decide on Delaware

Delaware Governor: Jack Markell

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Written on: November 22nd, 2010 in Job Creation

Over the past few weeks, we’ve had some good news about jobs. Three companies – Perdue, Calpine and Mountaire – put the First State in First Place when it came to deciding where to locate.

Early last week, the Perdue Company joined us to announce that Perdue AgriBusiness will relocate its headquarters and trading operations center to Seaford. Their efforts to develop innovative technologies and approaches are moving agriculture forward—it’s a great fit for Delaware.

On Wednesday in Wilmington, we joined hundreds of employees to formally welcome the Calpine Corporation, an independent producer of power. After they acquired Connectiv Energy, Calpine had a choice of several places to make their regional hub, which covers 10 states.

When asked “Why Delaware?” Calpine’s President and CEO Jack Fusco said it was because his company “shares Delaware’s focus on promoting excellence, protecting the environment and creating business and employment opportunities.”

On the morning of Return Day, Mountaire Farms announced an investment of approximately $34.5 million to expand its poultry complex in Millsboro. They will be building a new state-of-the-art Resource Recovery Center, replacing oil with natural gas, and upgrading their waste-water treatment facility.

There are many people to thank for the hard work that made these announcements a reality, including DEDO Director Alan Levin, Agriculture Secretary Ed Kee and DNREC Secretary Collin O’Mara.

Also key was our talented and driven Delaware workforce – people these companies will be proud to call their own for years to come.

But most of all, the people of Delaware, who each day put aside our differences and fight for something instead of against each other.

It’s a testament to what can happen when we look past politics and focus on what really matters most in this economy – keeping people working and getting people back to work.