Plug This In

Driving back and forth to Atlanta, I kept passing this construction site on Highway 411 -- east of Rome, GA.  It's so big I couldn't help but be curious.  Nobody I knew seems to know what it was but I finally remembered to look it up on Google Maps.

If you'll look closely, (clicking on this link might be easier) you'll notice the construction site is bigger than the nearby town of Kingston.  That's a big construction site.  What is it?  Well, like Google Maps says, its the S-JV Battery Cell Georgia Project.

Let's look at the press release the Georgia Department of Economic Development put out about it, shall we?

Hyundai Motor Group and SK On To Build EV Battery Facility in Bartow County 

"Atlanta, GA –  December 8, 2022 – Governor Brian P. Kemp today announced that Hyundai Motor Group (HMG) and SK On have selected a site in Bartow County for a new electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturing facility that will supply Hyundai Motor Group’s plants in the U.S. One of the largest economic development projects in state history, stakeholders estimate it will create more than 3,500 new jobs through approximately $4-5 billion of investment in Bartow County."

That comes roaring out of the gate doesn't it?  SK On is going to build batteries for Hyundai.  That's awesome.  4 to 5 billion dollars and 3,500 jobs.  Nice!  It would seem they already have that many construction workers on hand.  (I have no idea how many they actually have.)

Governor Kemp sounds proud (and rightly so).

""Hyundai Motor Group and SK On are valued partners and key players in our state's ever-growing automotive industry," said Governor Brian Kemp. "Since day one, my administration has been focused on bringing jobs and opportunity to communities across the state that may have been overlooked in the past. SK and HMG share this goal, and we're proud they are choosing to invest even further in this No. 1 state for business."

Now, I encourage you to read the whole press release but most people aren't into reading 2 year old press releases.  (You did read the date, right?  Always look for the date on a document.)  So I'll save you the trouble and show you where I'm headed.  You can read the whole thing and never read the words. "Thank you, President Biden."  No thanks for Speaker Nancy Pelosi or Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer either.  (They are all Democrats -- in case you wandered onto this page by mistake.)

What's going on?  The Inflation Reduction Act is going on, that's what.  From the New York Times:

Hyundai and LG Plan $4.3 Billion Battery Plant in Georgia

"The project is expected to bring 3,000 new jobs to southeast Georgia by the end of 2025. It is the second battery manufacturing plant that Hyundai is developing in the state, which has used incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act to open new facilities. Hyundai announced in December that it had teamed up with SK On, a South Korean electric vehicle battery developer, to build a plant in Bartow County."

Now don't let me confuse you here (I confused myself to start).  This article isn't about the Bartow County plant -- in northwest Georgia.  It's about a second plant Hyundai (or SK On if you'd rather) is building in southeast Georgia -- in Bryan County. I just wanted you to see that middle part:  

"...which has used incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act to open new facilities."

There's a lot to unpack here but I'll try to just tell you what time it is instead of showing you how to build the clock.  Now, if you want to build your own clock, follow the links.  The Inflation Reduction Act was passed in August of 2022 (dates again).  You can read about all the gyrations (aka Senator Joe Manchin) President Biden went through to get it passed but what I want you to note is not a single Republican voted for it.  Not in the House.  Not in the Senate.

Okay, just one piece of the clock:

"On August 7, 2022, following the vote-a-rama, an unlimited marathon voting session on amendments, that lasted nearly 16 hours, the Senate passed the bill (as amended) on a 51–50 vote, with all Democrats voting in favor, all Republicans voting against, and Vice President Kamala Harris breaking the tie."

It's important to remember those 51 Senate votes included the two, new Democratic Senators from Georgia -- Senator Raphael Warnock and Senator Jon Ossoff.  (You didn't see their names in that State press release either.)  Remember them?  Georgia voted for President Biden and 2 new Senators.  It was a wild election (and runoff) with control of the Senate hanging in the balance.  Refresh your memory here.

Now, I'm hoping that makes you ask, "Who represents Bartow County in Congress?".  Bartow County is in Georgia's 11th Congressional District so that would be one Representative Barry Loudermilk.

Wikipedia will tell you more than you want to know about Representative Loudermilk but it's this part that caught my eye.

"In June, Capitol police concluded that there was nothing suspicious about Loudermilk's tour. Capitol police chief Tom Manger said, "There is no evidence that Rep. Loudermilk entered the U.S. Capitol with this group on January 5, 2021."[22] The next day, the committee released video of Loudermilk leading the tour of the Capitol complex on January 5 in areas "not typically of interest to tourists, including hallways, staircases, and security checkpoints";[23] the footage showed the group walking through tunnels underneath the Capitol, but not within the main building. A man in the tour group can also be seen taking photos of hallways. The committee then shared footage claiming the man was at the riot, showing footage of a man at the storming of the Capitol the next day.[24]"  

"The committee" that released that video was the "United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack"

Yes.  Loudermilk is that guy. Loudermilk was last elected  with 62.6% of the vote.  Even better (worse?), the Bartow plant lies in a precinct (near as I can tell) that voted for Trump by 82% in 2020.  It is a Red area. And thanks to Biden, Pelosi and Schumer, those folks that voted for Trump and Loudermilk are now a lot richer.

(Standard caveat: Always check my math.)

$5 billion (the cost of the plant) divided by the 108,901 residents of Bartow County = $45,913.26  for every man, woman and child in Bartow County. (The median income per household in Bartow County is $49,216.) Even for the 70.64% of the voters that voted for  Republicans -- that voted against the legislation responsible for that 5-billion-dollar investment.

I'm not going to repeat this process for the Bryan County, Georgia plant, but you can.  It's all there at Wikipedia: voting percentages, Congressional District, population, etc.  You can figure it out. If you want to.

What I want to do is say "thank you" to President Joe Biden.  And Speaker Nancy Pelosi.  And Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.  They've all been around a long time and they would all tell you there are hundreds (if not thousands) of other people that worked on this Bill.  But the guy that got it done was Joe Biden.

By the time the rest of America figures it out, Joe Biden will no longer be President.  By the time the first employee is hired at that plant, Joe Biden might not be alive.  But I have to wonder, by the time that employee makes his retirement, will he realize that he owes his career to a Democrat?  Specifically to a life-long politician that did the next-to-politically-impossible task of getting a Bill through Congress with the narrowest of margins?  A Bill so big in scope that it will transform the largest economy in the world and might -- just maybe -- save the planet from global warming?

Do you think that employee might be able to muster up the maturity that comes with age and the clarity of hindsight to utter a sincere, "Thank you, President Biden"?

I'm going to say mine now, while he can still enjoy it.  Thank you, President Biden.

Don Brown
September 12, 2024

Note:  I don't know of a more complicated subject than taxes -- unless it's tax incentives -- but if you want to take a deep dive into the carrots and sticks of the Inflation Reduction Act regarding electric vehicles, I'd recommend you start here:  Tracking the EV battery factory construction boom across North America