Who’s on First

The letter in the Kokomo Tribune on January 6th by residents concerning the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) and the Kokomo electric vehicle battery plants, StarPlus, points out several critical issues. The primary one may be the functioning of the IEDC in Indiana. This “Corporation” is a child of the Indiana General Assembly. The President of the Corporation is Indiana’s governor, now Governor Mike Braun. All of the board members are appointed by the governor alone.

This “quasi-private government” entity has a lot of power and can operate largely in secret with millions of taxpayer dollars. That is, make decisions that seriously affect communities without full knowledge of the citizens therein ahead of time. The Stellantis-Samsung StarPlus electric vehicle battery plants in Kokomo are a prime example.

Now, late in the process, there are all sorts of questions coming up. There are questions about the available water supply, surface and underground, and what a draw of about 2.5 million gallons per day per battery plant might mean. There are questions about how waste water will be transported and handled and what chemicals such waste water will contain. If sent to the local waste water treatment plant, what impact on that plant will there be. There are questions about what other waste may be generated and how it will be handled.

We have already seen the expenditure of millions on the extension of a gas line to serve the battery plants. We have to wonder about the electricity needed and where it is to come from. Already, there was a proposal for a lithium electric battery plant nearby to store electricity for feeding back to the power grid in high demand times. It was denied so far due to safety concerns.

There is another company, Jaewon, that is building a plant next to the StarPlus plant. Jaewon is to handle certain chemical waste products from StarPlus. How much water will this operation require and what is to become of whatever products and/or wastes it will generate?

Cost numbers of all of this are in the billions with more to come. What is the cost per job generated? We already know that about half of the jobs at the battery plants will be held by Koreans, not US citizens.

There was a residential and commercial development proposed just south of the battery plants and the Jaewon plant. Now there are serious questions about the elevation of ground levels compared to the 100 year flood level. The development has been put on hold. There is land just recently rezoned to intensive industrial zoning for Jaewon immediately adjacent north to the land with elevation questions. How about the Jaewon land? Is it, too, of insufficient elevation above the 100 year flood height?

There is one more thing that has been reported about the Jaewon plant construction. Sources say non-union Korean electricians and non-union Korean pipe fitters are being used in the building of the Jaewon plant. Sources say shoddy work is being done and that a report of this will be submitted to OSHA.

Finally, there is yet another $7 billion in loans either offered or already taken down related to the battery plants. It appears billions and billions of dollars of taxpayer money are being risked in the development of all projects related to the EV battery plants. This is at a time when President Trump may well terminate the mandates of the Biden administration regarding electric vehicles.

Our new governor and the Indiana General Assembly need to take a careful look at the IEDC and what it has done.