Georgia Battery Plant

[RickB]

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/georgia- ... bf58d2123a


The Georgia GOP Is Begging Biden To Act On Battery Plant, While Dems Stay Silent
With nearly 3,000 jobs at stake, Biden seems uncertain about using a veto, even as Republicans, a civil rights leader and a former Obama official push him to do so.


President Joe Biden campaigned on the promise of electric vehicles and green jobs, and Georgia voters responded with enthusiasm ― electing him to the White House and handing the state’s two Senate seats, and control of Congress, to Democrats.

But a U.S. International Trade Commission ruling has thrown those plans into disarray, threatening to shut down a giant electric vehicle battery factory set to employ upward of 2,600 workers in the suburbs north of Athens, Georgia. In an unusual partisan twist, Georgia’s Republican lawmakers have emerged as the project’s most vocal defenders.

Now Biden has just 19 days left to veto trade authorities’ ruling. The situation, technical and wonky as it is, has largely evaded national scrutiny, but is enormously important, experts say, for jobs in Georgia and the administration’s plans to electrify the nation’s automobiles over the next decade.

The details of the case illuminate the globe-spanning supply chains facing strain as the COVID-19 pandemic hardens borders and countries scramble to hasten the pace of their transitions from fossil fuels as climate disasters mount. Last month, the ITC ruled in favor of South Korean battery giant LG Chem, finding that rival SK Innovation guilty in a trade secrets case and banning SK Innovation from importing what it needs to run its planned Georgia factory for the next decade.

So far, there has been no sign from the White House that it will block the decision, and SK Innovation has hired consultants to draft a plan to shut down its $2.6 billion plant in Georgia. The move has sent Peach State officials scrambling to save one of the largest economic development projects in the state’s history.

“There’s nothing partisan about the jobs of the future,” said Pat Wilson, the GOP commissioner of Georgia’s Department of Economic Development...