As Pratt & Whitney facility nears completion, protest group looks to the future
ASHEVILLE - A local pacifist and environmentalist group opposed to the new $650 million aerospace manufacturing center owned by Pratt & Whitney, a subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies, has begun to explore ways of blocking or exposing future projects that group organizers say contribute to the military industrial complex and climate change.
The group, called Reject Raytheon Asheville, was formed Nov. 17, 2020, after Buncombe County Commissioners voted unanimously to approve a $27 million tax incentive for the manufacturing center, the group's website says.
Now that the center is nearing completion, with Pratt & Whitney holding a ribbon cutting attended by state and local leaders like Gov. Roy Cooper and County Commission Chair Brownie Newman, the group is hoping to block military or fossil fuel projects on the surrounding 900 acres owned by Biltmore Farms, stop the county from investing in similar projects and revoke state laws they say makes economic deals like the one struck with Pratt & Whitney hidden from public view.
"If we were all powerful, our end goal would be to stop the power that the military - or, what some people call war-corporations and defense contractors - have, which means they are involved in perpetuating the wars the United States is involved in," said Melody Shank, a lead organizer for Reject Raytheon Asheville. "The whole system is massive, and … they're making a lot of money from our federal government and then locally, as is the case of Pratt & Whitney."
The group is not all powerful, though, so Shank said she and other key organizers are instead working to inform the people of Buncombe County about the impact on society of the military industrial complex, defined by the Encyclopedia Britannica as a "network of individuals and institutions involved in the production of weapons and military technologies" which "typically attempts to marshal political support for continued or increased military spending by the national government."
"The term military-industrial complex was first used by U.S. Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower in his Farewell Address on January 17, 1961. Eisenhower warned that the United States must 'guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence … by the military-industrial complex,' which included members of Congress from districts dependent on military industries, the Department of Defense (along with the military services), and privately owned military contractors," the Encyclopedia Britannica entry reads.
Locally, the group is advocating for a moratorium on military or fossil fuel projects, specifically in the 1,000 acre Biltmore Park development owned by Biltmore Farms, and for the county to not provide tax incentives to those projects, either. Statewide, however, the group is hoping to change laws requiring government officials to sign nondisclosure agreements with companies they are working on economic deals with.
"There's a small group of us that are working on trying to challenge what are secret deals, the non-disclosure agreement law at the state level that allows municipalities not to have to tell the public until the deal's done," Shank said. "We're just in the initial stages of that."
Past Reporting:
$650 million aerospace manufacturing center moves closer to opening, holds ribbon cutting
Pratt & Whitney opening: Boost for local manufacturing; alive and well
At the ribbon cutting, which was attended by Reject Raytheon protesters, speakers talked about how important the Pratt & Whitney facility will be for Western North Carolina in the coming years, in part, by creating 800 new jobs through 2027.
“Global companies like Pratt & Whitney can choose to locate anywhere, but they know they’ve made the smart move with North Carolina,” Cooper said at the ribbon cutting, according to a news release. “This investment will strengthen our state’s manufacturing industry, bringing good paying jobs to Buncombe County for years to come.”
The factory has already begun hiring and has filled 118 of 150 positions the facility plans to open with, as of a Nov. 18 Citizen Times report. The average salary of those jobs is about $68,000, company spokesperson Cataldo Perrone said Nov. 17.
“The County Commissioners are excited to see this historic project move forward. Our support for the Pratt & Whitney project is all about improving the opportunities for workers in western North Carolina. This project will produce hundreds of good jobs that increase wages in the mountain region for decades to come,” Newman said at the ribbon cutting, according to Pratt & Whitney's news release.
Creating local jobs is important, especially well paying ones, conceded Reject Raytheon advocate Anne Craig, but talking about the number of jobs generated sometimes obscures what may go along with them.
"The whole job issue kind of clouds people looking more deeply into: What kinds of jobs? What are these jobs really (doing)? What do each of these industries really produce?" Craig said.
The Pratt & Whitney factory will produce turbine airfoils, an integral piece of an airplane's engine, which will go in commercial and military aircraft. Reject Raytheon organizer Ken Jones said this means that Pratt & Whitney, in addition to its parent company Raytheon, which the USA Today reported in 2019 was one of the top companies in the U.S. profiting off of war, has a financial interest in keeping wars going.
"War generates war, and in a era of nuclear weapons, that is a danger to our very existence," Jones said. "By the way, these jet fighters, the F-35s, are equipped to carry nuclear weapons, and Raytheon makes components for nuclear weapons."
The new Asheville facility will support the company's "growing demand" for the F135 engine, which powers the F-35 Lightning II, according to Pratt & Whitney president Shane Eddy's statements in a news release.
As for what else may go into the Biltmore Parks development, Vice President of Strategic Development for Biltmore Farms Ben Teague said there were no updates at this time, but that environmentalism is important to the company.
"Biltmore Farms has a legacy of environmental stewardship and sustainability that dates back more than 125 years. As community developers, our mission is to improve quality of life for the people of Western North Carolina, which includes both attracting transformational career opportunities to the region and maintaining our steadfast commitment to preserve the natural resources and scenic mountain beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains that make our home unique," Teague said in an email.
But by putting a manufacturing center that produces parts for airplanes, which produce high levels of greenhouse gases, Jones said Biltmore Farms is contributing to climate change by advocating for the Pratt & Whitney facility over projects he and other Reject Raytheon advocates said they preferred, like a solar farm, affordable housing or the expansion of a local business.
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County government and other local leaders should instead be focused on giving subsidies and growing local businesses, which will keep money in the local economy and promote internal hiring, Jones said.
On Nov. 19, Reject Raytheon Asheville and 12 other local advocacy groups marched in the Asheville Holiday Parade under one banner, the Only One Earth Coalition, "to celebrate our unity around the issues of climate emergency," the group's website says. That coalition includes groups like BeLoved Asheville, Veterans for Peace and the Asheville Democratic Socialists of America.
Pratt & Whitney did not immediately respond to a request for comment through spokesperson Perrone.
Christian Smith is the general assignment reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times. Questions or comments? Contact him at RCSmith@gannett.com or 828-274-2222.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Pratt & Whitney facility nears completion; protest group looks ahead
