Hinkle\'s column appeared in the March 31, 2007, issue of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. A leader in promoting the idea of green manufacturing at the St. Paul plant, Hinkle is now retired and co-chair of the state\'s plug-in hybrid electric vehicle task force.
Hinkle outlines the work that Local 879 has done over the years to promote environmentally friendly practices. A key issue in the plant\'s future, he says, is whether Ford is allowed to sell the hydroelectric plant that generates power for the facility.
"In large part because of the Ford plant\'s clean hydro power, a stable, vibrant, mixed-use community has grown around it in St. Paul," he writes.
"There\'s much more at stake here than what winds up on that piece of property," Hinkle writes. "The Ford Assembly Plant could be an inspiring model of sustainable development. It could be a launch site for a whole new manufacturing capability for Minnesota - an opportunity, for example, to meet the large, long-term demand for wind turbines that the state\'s new Renewable Energy Standard will require. It could include manufacturing at each point in the supply chain, all the way back to Minnesota-supplied iron ore. That is manufacturing capability no other state has yet secured."
Read the full commentary at http://www.twincities.com/searchresults/ci_5564428?nclick_check=1
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Hinkle\’s column appeared in the March 31, 2007, issue of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. A leader in promoting the idea of green manufacturing at the St. Paul plant, Hinkle is now retired and co-chair of the state\’s plug-in hybrid electric vehicle task force.
Hinkle outlines the work that Local 879 has done over the years to promote environmentally friendly practices. A key issue in the plant\’s future, he says, is whether Ford is allowed to sell the hydroelectric plant that generates power for the facility.
"In large part because of the Ford plant\’s clean hydro power, a stable, vibrant, mixed-use community has grown around it in St. Paul," he writes.
"There\’s much more at stake here than what winds up on that piece of property," Hinkle writes. "The Ford Assembly Plant could be an inspiring model of sustainable development. It could be a launch site for a whole new manufacturing capability for Minnesota – an opportunity, for example, to meet the large, long-term demand for wind turbines that the state\’s new Renewable Energy Standard will require. It could include manufacturing at each point in the supply chain, all the way back to Minnesota-supplied iron ore. That is manufacturing capability no other state has yet secured."
Read the full commentary at http://www.twincities.com/searchresults/ci_5564428?nclick_check=1