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 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 quietly with millions of dollars. That is, make decisions that seriously affect communities without full and open knowledge of all citizens therein well ahead of time. The Stellantis-Samsung StarPlus electric vehicle battery plants and the Jaewon plant in Kokomo are prime examples.

Now, late in the process, citizens are asking questions. 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. The water needs of the Jaewon plant are not presently clear. There are claims the most recently released water shed study by the State of Indiana showing plenty of water is available is flawed.

There are questions about how waste water will be transported and handled and what chemicals such waste water will contain. A report is water used for cooling will be recycled. Water for industrial processes will be containerized and sent off site for treatment and not to the local waste water treatment plant. Water used for human waste will go to the local waste water treatment plant. Storm water off of buildings and parking lots will go to holding ponds, but there is a question as to whether the ponds will be lined to prevent leakage to ground water. Given the above, one must wonder why over 2 million gallons per day of utility provided water will be consumed.

We have already seen the expenditure of millions on the extension of a gas line to serve the battery plants which reportedly is to be paid for by the gas consumers. We have to wonder about what electricity needed and where it is to come from.

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? Answers are not clear to the public. And now, there are questions about construction quality practices going on in the building of this plant. Reports are that shoddy workmanship has resulted in project shutdown at times by Kokomo Fire Department officials only to be overridden by some State agency. Reports are that complaints will be submitted to OSHA.

Unrelated to the battery plants, 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 serious safety concerns centered around possible lithium fires.

Cost numbers of all of these projects are in the billions with more to come. What is the cost per job generated? We already know at least a few hundred of the jobs at the battery plants will be held by Koreans, not US citizens. How many US citizens will actually be continually employed when all is done?

There is a residential and commercial development proposed just south of the battery plants and the Jaewon plant. Now, questions about the elevation of ground levels compared to the 100 year flood level were raised by the City Engineer. The development has been put on hold. There is land requested for rezoning 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? What restrictions may be the result?

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 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 here and elsewhere in Indiana.