Fox News: Energy company ‘doubling down on costly, dirty coal’ to power massive EV battery plant
A Kansas energy provider paused plans to transition away from coal power and will try to raise its rates to meet the energy demands of a new, $4 billion electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturing factory.
“Evergy is doubling down on costly, dirty coal and asking Kansans to foot the bill,” Ty Gorman, a campaign representative for the Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign, wrote in April. “Evergy’s business decisions have squandered tens of millions of dollars on coal, causing an estimated 18 premature deaths annually and disproportionately harming Black and LatinX communities.”
Last year, Panasonic Energy broke ground on a 4 million-square-foot EV project in De Soto, Kansas, one of the largest facilities of its kind in the U.S. To meet energy demands, Evergy, the utility company serving the factory, will continue burning coal at part of its nearby Lawrence Energy Center until at least 2028, delaying plans to transition to natural gas by the end of the year …
Panasonic will invest $4 billion into the project, but the Japanese company could receive as much as $8 billion in incentives from local, state and federal governments, according to Good Jobs First.
The Japanese company could be eligible to receive as much as $6.8 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act’s 45X Advanced Manufacturing Tax Credit, aimed at increasing production of electric vehicles.”
Read the full story at Fox News.