SPOTLIGHT REPORT

From Hometown Oneonta & The Freeman's Journal

IF CONSTITUTION STALLS,

WOULD AMPHENOL STAY?

Lacking Supply, Gas Supplier Shifts Focus To Pennsylvania

Editor's Note:  This "Spotlight Report" is reprinted from this week's Freeman's Journal & Hometown Oneonta.  Pick up allotsego.com's sister newspapers weekly for news, features and commentary about the Otsego County regional issues.

By JIM KEVLIN • Special to allotsego.com

The future of Amphenol Aerospace’s 1,000-job Sidney plant if the state rejects the Constitution Pipeline is “a relatively minor blip from the perspective of the people who have opposed the pipeline,” says Bob Nied, Richmondville, formerly on the Stop the Pipeline steering committee.

If approved, Stop the Pipeline adherents believe, the pipeline would damage tourism, preventing job growth in that sector, and depress property values, counter-balancing Amphenol’s economic benefits, Nied said.

But Glenn Nealis, director of the Delaware County Economic Development Department, takes another view.  He pointed out that, with its $30 million annual payroll, there is no larger employer than Amphenol in his county or Otsego, and that it is on a par with Raymond Corp., the fork-lift manufacturer in Greene, Chenango County.

Natural gas for Amphenol is “very important,” said Nealis.  “They were very clear during the negotiations to keep them here that that was a key consideration, one they estimated would save them $1 million a year.”