Tester response to G.M.’s meeting with Stillwater Mining Company

(BIG SANDY, Mont.) – Senator Jon Tester today released the following statement in response to news that General Motors refuses to purchase palladium from Montana’s Stillwater Mining Company:

“After taking billions of dollars from taxpayers, General Motors continues to choose foreign jobs over American jobs.  That flies in the face of common sense.  We aren’t buying it.  I look forward to sharing with G.M. the hundreds of comments from folks who know this is a raw deal for taxpayers and for G.M.’s customers.”

Tester encourages all Montanans concerned by G.M.’s decision to weigh in on his website, tester.senate.gov/stillwater.  Tester has received more than 500 comments so far and plans to deliver the comments he receives to G.M. and to the newly created White House Auto Task Force.

A bankruptcy judge last month upheld G.M.’s recent decision to cancel its contract to buy palladium from Stillwater Mine—America’s only producer of palladium.

G.M. said it instead plans to purchase its palladium from South Africa and Russia, even after accepting a $50 billion bailout from American taxpayers.  Palladium is a precious metal used to make catalytic converters, which filter pollution from cars and trucks.