An Italian company has abandoned plans to build a factory in Somerset that would have supplied undersea cables to American offshore wind farms.
The proposed factory would have created between 200 and 350 manufacturing jobs at the site of an old coal fired power plant in Somerset’s Brayton Point neighborhood.
The Prysmian Group announced on Friday that it is abandoning plans for the factory, after spending three years in a fight to secure permits and a tax break from the town and fend off lawsuits from neighbors. In a prepared statement, the company said it is aligning its manufacturing capacity with market demand.
Local leaders said Pres. Donald Trump’s hostility towards the offshore wind industry killed the project.
“Donald Trump has unraveled that promise of good jobs by threatening a moratorium on offshore wind, generating so much uncertainty that companies pull back investment,” said U.S. Rep. Jake Auchincloss.
Prysmian’s decision also dealt a blow to former Pres. Joe Biden, who hoped the factory would showcase the offshore wind industry’s potential to create manufacturing jobs and a vast new source of renewable energy.
This story was reported by The Public’s Radio. You can read the entire story here.
