Just what California needed. I was born and raised in CA and it saddens me to see what the Liberal politicians, the unions, and the leftist advocacy groups are doing to that state.

"A Japanese company's much-celebrated plans to build a light-rail manufacturing plant in Palmdale appear all but dead after months of clashes with local labor unions and community groups..

Kinkisharyo International of Osaka said it is now looking at factory sites outside California, saying pressure from organized labor has made it difficult to do business in the state. Union officials and activists, however, argue they are simply trying to hold the company to environmental rules it should be following.

Kinkisharyo won a $890-million contract to build 175 light-rail cars for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority two years ago.

Most of the parts will be built in Japan, but the firm agreed to perform final assembly, including painting and wiring the cars, in Los Angeles County. It has been doing that from a temporary facility in Palmdale. Kinkisharyo leaders said they hoped to build a permanent plant that would allow enable them to also move some heavy rail car manufacturing from Japan to the United States.

The 60-acre Palmdale site that Kinkisharyo chose, however, came under fire this last summer when local activists — including members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 11 — presented the city with a 588-page appeal claiming violations of state environmental law. The document says that the factory has not secured proper water rights, and that construction could kick up spores that carry valley fever.

Los Angeles County Supervisor and Metro board member Michael D. Antonovich accused labor leaders of "greenmail" tactics — using the environmental law as leverage to convince Kinkisharyo to promise that its workforce would be unionized."

Kinkisharyo, since it is not run by a pack of idiots, has decided to complete its current production in Palmdale but its plans to build a permanent facility in CA are being abandoned. In addition to the loss of jobs at Palmdale and from future Kinkisharyo plans there is also this, "Gary Toebben, president of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce...said losing the plant would give the state a "scarlet letter" and signal to investors that doing business in California isn't worth it."

Pretty soon it will look like an act of mercy for CA to have the big one and wind up in the Pacific.

http://www.latimes.com/local/countygover...1021-story.html