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November 21, 2009

Local, state officials not to blame for Pfizer closures

By DAN HEATH

PLATTSBURGH — State and local officials and leaders are not to blame for Pfizer's decision to close three former Wyeth facilities in the North Country.

So says Empire State Development Corp. CEO Dennis Mullen, who told the Press-Republican Editorial Board that he and his staff did work with Pfizer, ahead of its decision, to determine whether incentives such as research-and-development tax credits could help keep New York locations open.

Pfizer is closing its research sites in Chazy, Rouses Point and Plattsburgh, leaving about 340 people jobless.

Mullen said Empire State Development told Pfizer it would be flexible, within reason, in offering competitive incentives if the company would stay here.

"This (closures) had nothing to do, for them, with incentives," he said.

The consolidations were carried out to eliminate duplication of research-and development efforts, Mullen said.

He assured — calling the idea "ridiculous" — that the loss of Pfizer had nothing to do with the return to a single leader at Empire State Development from the previous system, which had separate representatives for upstate and downstate offices.

At the time of the change, upstate officials had expressed concerns that a single Empire State leader would focus too much on the New York City area.

"This is not a reflection of the switch to one CEO," Mullen said, noting he was formerly the head of the upstate office.

NEXT STEP
Empire State Development will now continue to work with Pfizer and the locally formed Pfizer Transition Coordinating Council to mitigate the effects of the closures.

Mullen said the ideal solution would be to find another pharmaceutical company to operate the facilities and employ the workforce.

He said the local Transition Council has moved to action with a rapidity he rarely sees in other parts of the state.

It may help that Pfizer now has 15 locations it no longer needs, Mullen said, including the three local sites. The company's need to do something with the buildings could work in conjunction with a community desire to get the facilities operational again and staffed by North Country employees.

"We have a common need," Mullen said.

He said the core values he's seen in meetings with Pfizer officials during the past six months lead him to believe the company is even more concerned about its employees in light of the impending closures.

JOB LOSSES
Manufacturing-job losses are not an issue of geography, location or taxes, Mullen said. The losses are tied to trends in the industries that have manufacturing facilities in upstate New York.

He cited Rochester-based Kodak as an example. The company business was based on film photography, which has suffered with the advent and popularity of digital photography.

Similarly, the pharmaceutical industry is in the midst of a worldwide contraction, Mullen noted. Examples include Pfizer's acquisition of Wyeth and Merck's purchase of Schering-Plough.

LAURENTIAN
On another front, Mullen said he and his staff have been working with Laurentian Aerospace Corp. officials for the last 12 months as they continue to seek investors for the approximately $200 million large-body aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul facility they have proposed for Plattsburgh International Airport. The project would have brought hundreds of jobs to the Plattsburgh area, but the project has been stalled for months.

That project was an important part of Mullen's private meeting with Plattsburgh-North Country Chamber of Commerce President Garry Douglas while he was in Plattsburgh.

"It is a very strong business plan," Mullen said of Laurentian. "The investment marketplace is the issue. They just hit it at the wrong time."

E-mail Dan Heath at: dheath@pressrepublican.com

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