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Obama to revisit economic bright spot on Michigan shore

From Kevin Conlon, CNN
President Barack Obama will visit a Holland, Michigan, plant that was built from his administration's grant money.
President Barack Obama will visit a Holland, Michigan, plant that was built from his administration's grant money.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Holland, Michigan, has become a hub for hybrid battery technology
  • About $450 million in stimulus funds funded two battery plants
  • Obama plans to visit one of those plants on Thursday
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(CNN) -- With little good news coming out of Wall Street or Washington, President Barack Obama plans to tout his administration's role in an economic renaissance percolating along the west coast of Michigan during a scheduled visit Thursday.

It will be Obama's second visit to Holland, an emerging hub for hybrid car battery technology. Until recently, it was best known for sugar-white Lake Michigan beaches and its annual tulip festival.

The president is scheduled to appear at a Johnson Controls-Saft plant that was built with a $299 million grant from his administration's 2009 economic stimulus program and now expects to employ 500 people when fully operational.

Both Johnson and Korea's LG Chem have built battery plants in Holland. LG Chem received $150 million from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, and Obama appeared at the groundbreaking of its 200-worker plant in 2010.

LG employee Shane Vander Jagt told CNN that the plant's future was "very bright."

"This technology is not a fad," said the 34-year-old Vander Jagt, who said he has been laid off "more than once" in the past few years. "It's only going to grow."

Holland, a city of 34,000 located 30 miles southeast of Grand Rapids, had an unemployment rate of 13.2% in July 2009. It's currently 9%.

Even without stimulus funds as an enticement, the area has been drawing other players in the industry. Switzerland-based fortu PowerCell is building an advanced battery plant in Muskegon, 30 miles north of Holland -- a decision company spokeswoman Deb Muchmore called "good common sense."

Michigan "is the automotive capital of the world," Muchmore said. "Its workforce is manufacturing-savvy (and has) tremendous expertise with all things mobility."

Muskegon's unemployment rate peaked at 15.7% in July 2009, and it was hit again by the 2010 closure of a paper mill that added hundreds more to the unemployment rolls. By June 2011, that figure had fallen to 10.8%.