US agency to reexamine permit for Hyundai’s $7.6B EV plant in Georgia

SAVANNAH, Ga. — A federal agency plans to reassess its environmental permit for Hyundai’s $7.6 billion electric vehicle plant in Georgia after a conservation group complained that regulators failed to properly examine the sprawling factory’s potential impacts on the area’s water supply. The Army Corps of Engineers said in a letter Friday that state and local economic development agencies that applied for the project’s 2022 permit never mentioned Hyundai wanted to withdraw up to 6.6 million gallons (25 million liters) per day from the underground aquifer that’s a major regional source of drinking water. As a result, the Army Corps said it will revisit its finding that the project would have “negligible impacts.” The Army Corps sent a similar letter to the Ogeechee Riverkeeper conservation group, which gave notice in June that it planned to sue if the agency refused to revisit the permit issued for the Hyundai project in October 2022. “The concentration of that pumping in one area is going to have some impacts locally, such as on domestic and agricultural wells,” said Ben Kirsch, the riverkeeper group’s legal director. “The big question we’ve had throughout all this is what impact will it have on other resources resources — natural springs in the area, wetlands, tributaries and streams.” The Army Corps’ decision comes as Hyundai pushes to start production before the end of the year at its 2,900-acre (1,170-hectare) plant in Bryan County west of Savannah. “At this time the permit is still valid and we have not requested that the permittee stop work,” Cheri Dragos-Pritchard, a spokesperson for the Army Corps’ Savannah District, said by email Monday. Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America, the automaker’s name for its Georgia factory, said in a statement Monday that it will assist as needed to ensure the Army Corps gets the information it needs. “Hyundai has worked tirelessly with the relevant authorities to ensure we are good neighbors to those in the region and that our operations do not negatively impact the community’s water resources,” the company’s statement said. The extra scrutiny by the federal government is “unlikely to impact or delay” a final decision by Georgia regulators on whether to permit wells for the Hyundai project, said Sara Lips, a spokesperson for the state Environmental Protection Division. The Army Corps permit obtained by state and local economic developers authorized the filling or dredging of 221 acres (89 hectares) of wetlands at the plant site just a few months after Hyundai announced plans to build its EV factory in May 2022. “We never purposefully withheld anything,” said Trip Tollison, president and CEO of the Savannah Area Economic Development Authority, one of the local agencies that worked with state officials to bring Hyundai to Georgia. The federal agency would typically complete its review within a month, he said, adding that he’s confident the reevaluation won’t hold up the project. “We feel really good about where we are.” Georgia’s environmental agency issued draft permits in July for the four wells to supply Hyundai. The wells would be drilled in neighboring Bulloch County, where some farmers and rural residents have said they worry the auto plant will siphon water away from their crops and homes. – This Summarize was created by Neural News AI (V1). Source: https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/us-agency-reexamine-permit-hyundais-76-billion-electric-113159845