NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Looks like Caterpillar won't be leaving the state of Illinois, even after the CEO suggested the company might depart due to a hostile business environment.
"Caterpillar is here to stay," CEO Douglas Oberhelman said Tuesday after meeting with Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn to discuss the state's fiscal policies.
Last week, Oberhelman sent a letter to the governor saying he wanted to talk about how to move the state toward real fiscal reform. He also hinted that the company might leave for greener pastures.
"I want to stay here," Oberhelman wrote. "But as the leader of this business, I have to do what's right for Caterpillar when making decisions about where to invest."
Caterpillar (CAT, Fortune 500) is headquartered in Peoria and employs 23,000 people in Illinois. The state recently passed a controversial budget that raised taxes on companies and individuals.
Oberhelman wrote that he received letters from governors all over the country that would welcome Cat with open arms. Their arguments are "compelling," he said.
Presumably, Oberhelman's chief complaint is the tax hikes enacted by Illinois lawmakers in January.
But all that was forgiven Tuesday, after the two parties met for about an hour.
"We've got a lot of good things going for us in Illinois," Oberhelman said at a press conference in Peoria.
"We are invested heavily here," he said. "And we are going to work together to find a way we can invest more here and continue to be proud of our state."
Oberhelman specifically praised Gov. Quinn for being out in front on workers compensation, exports and infrastructure projects. 
| Index | Last | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dow | 12,454.83 | -74.92 | -0.60% |
| Nasdaq | 2,837.53 | -1.85 | -0.07% |
| S&P 500 | 1,317.82 | -2.86 | -0.22% |
| Treasuries | 1.74 | -0.01 | -0.80% |
| Company | Price | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank of America Corp... | 7.15 | 0.01 | 0.14% |
| Sprint Nextel Corp | 2.62 | 0.09 | 3.56% |
| Cisco Systems Inc | 16.33 | -0.06 | -0.37% |
| Chesapeake Energy Co... | 15.81 | 0.23 | 1.48% |
| Ford Motor Co | 10.60 | 0.01 | 0.09% |
|
The Senate hearing will focus JPMorgan's recent $2 billion trading loss, which Dimon announced earlier this month. More |
The offer for mail handlers is part of the Postal Service's plan to cut 150,000 jobs by 2015. More |
In the whirlwind of its IPO fallout, there has been a sort of glee in watching the company stumble. What's driving the Facebook-schadenfreude and what can the social network do about it? More |
One in six children in the United States is obese. These small businesses have found creative -- and lucrative -- ways to fight the childhood obesity epidemic. More |
In Harper County, Kansas, oil companies are offering farmers up to $1,250 an acre for the mineral rights that allow them to drill for oil on their property. More |
.
