Rural Western North Carolina Community Protests ‘Covert’ Plans For EV Battery Plant

A group of residents in western North Carolina are protesting their county board’s lack of transparency over furtive moves to welcome an electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturing the residents believe would pollute their waters and ruin their scenic countryside.

A view of the southeast shore of Lake James in Morganton, NC, from the Fonta Flora Trail approximately three miles from the megasite where an EV battery plant could be constructed (Courtesy of Bill Connell).

In October 2023, the North Carolina state legislature allocated $35.8 million to Burke Development Inc. for the purchase of a 1,400-acre property on which to build an industrial megasite in Burke and McDowell counties.

Though the all-Republican board of Burke County Commissioners has made no official decision on approving an EV battery plant to be built within the megasite, Alan Wood, the CEO of Burke Development, alluded to the site’s potential for such a project, according to a local media report.

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Bigus Macus
Bigus Macus
11 days ago

As the saying goes, follow the money. See whose purses get greased Both at a local and state level Who are the landowners both old and new.

Noway2
Noway2
11 days ago

The repugs will sell you out and whore themselves for a fat dollar just as fast as the dimmorhoids.

Phil1350
Phil1350
11 days ago

They all need to be thrown out of power or forcibly removed. lithium is a very toxic material, and we don’t need any EV plants being built when no one is purchasing there ultra expansive crappy cars anyway. Some of these garbage cars explode in very hot weather because the batteries get overheated, and the lithium explodes making it a bomb. If the material from the plant gets into the lake, the lake is finished with as well as the fish. These are madmen looking to make a few pieces of silver of which they have no respect nor honor for the residents of the area if they go along with this. the board members should be investigated to see who is getting money under the table and kickbacks. The residents must be alert about this and forbid this type of plant from ever being built, let them bring their plant to Raleigh to destroy their area, but not in our back yard.