PARIS, Wis. — When Gov. Scott Walker announced last month that the electronics giant Foxconn had chosen Wisconsin as a site for its new factory, he was a picture of grinning, fist-pumping excitement. It would be the biggest economic project in Wisconsin history, Mr. Walker promised, with a $10 billion investment, as many as 13,000 jobs and a high-tech campus the size of 11 Lambeau Fields.
But the project has run into doubts. Residents of southeastern Wisconsin, where the factory is expected to be built, say they are concerned about the impact of such a massive factory in the region. Environmental advocates have criticized the administration of Mr. Walker, a Republican, for its willingness to bend regulations on the environment so that Foxconn can move more quickly on construction.
In Madison, the state capital, a legislative package that includes taxpayer-funded incentives for Foxconn has drawn questions from skeptical lawmakers; on Thursday, Scott Fitzgerald, the leader of the Republican-controlled state Senate, said he did not know if he had the votes to approve it in its current form.
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In Madison, the state capital, a legislative package that includes taxpayer-funded incentives for Foxconn has drawn questions from skeptical lawmakers; on Thursday, Scott Fitzgerald, the leader of the Republican-controlled state Senate, said he did not know if he had the votes to approve it in its current form.
His fellow senators have been asking questions about the state’s spending on the project and the tax credits it will offer, he said in an interview. “We want to see milestones, or certainly some kind of schedule on the job creation,” said Mr. Fitzgerald.
The latest blow to the project came this week from the state Legislative Fiscal Bureau, a nonpartisan agency that analyzes legislation for lawmakers, which found that Wisconsin taxpayers would not recoup their investment in Foxconn until at least 2043 — a conclusion that alarmed both Democrats and fiscal conservatives.
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