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Clarios to shutter Middletown plant this year

Delaware Public Media

The global car battery company Clarios recently announced it is permanently closing its assembly plant in Middletown later this year.

 

Clarios says it plans to shutter the doors at the Middletown facility in November. The move will affect about 200 Delaware workers.

A spokesperson for the company gave no reason other than to say it is “streamlining [its] U.S. manufacturing network,” adding Clarios plans to offer opportunities to impacted employees at the company’s distribution center in Middletown.

Clarios - which was previously known as Johnson Controls - has received millions of dollars in state subsidies — along with a ten-year property tax abatement from the town of Middletown when it expanded there in 2011.

In a statement, Sen. Tom Carper called the decision to close a “devastating blow to the employees and their families, and a body blow to the economy of Delaware.”

He says he plans to work with the Governor’s office and the rest of the congressional delegation to get assistance to affected families.

Clarios received a notice of violation from the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) at the start of the year for operating its Middletown facility without a permit and violating air emissions limits.

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