Aquion's move to China: Winner-picking folly

The outcome of Aquion Energy Inc.'s bankruptcy process — its sale to a Chinese-backed, U.S.-based ownership group that's moving the battery maker to China from East Huntingdon's former Sony plant — makes clearer than ever the folly of winner-picking state incentives.

Then based in Lawrenceville, Aquion received $8.6 million in grants and $8 million in loans from the state Department of Community and Economic Development in 2012 to stay in Western Pennsylvania. In exchange, Aquion promised 341 new jobs but produced just 50 by February 2016, when DCED gave it a one-year extension on that job promise — which proved worthless.

After Aquion's March bankruptcy filing, DCED said its payments on its collateral-secured state loans were current — but wouldn't say what the collateral was or how much Aquion still owed. DCED vowed to “take whatever steps are necessary … to recover our loans.” Now, DCED says it won't know how much it can recoup until Aquion files its reorganization plan early next year, delaying full accountability to the taxpayers it unwillingly made into venture capitalists.

Producing new-tech saltwater batteries, Aquion always was a riskier venture than Volkswagen or Sony ever was at the East Huntingdon industrial site. But rather than reflect some sort of curse on the site they occupied, Aquion's failure more realistically embodies the pitfalls of government handing tax dollars to favored businesses instead of fostering conditions in which all businesses can thrive.