I hate to rain on the Hyundai euphoria parade, but that golden age of economic prosperity has not yet dawned and those great days might not last. Moreover, they are coming at a greater cost than most people realize.
About uncertainty, we have been down this road before and paid for the trip. Georgia’s political leaders have spent millions of tax dollars being very friendly to out-of-state industries that might be willing to operate in this state. They were joined in this hot pursuit by town and county leaders. Such wooing has not always worked.
State and local tax monies were spent to develop a marvelous site in west Chatham for a factory to produce Dodge vans. Dodge simply backed out of the deal. Before site preparation for Hyundai, there was a similar development in north Georgia for the electric automobile Rivian. Just days ago, Rivian informed one and all that production will be confined to its present facility elsewhere. Rivian will not come to Georgia because the company is losing money.
While Hyundai is a successful automaker, its factory here will make all electric vehicles, as is true with Rivian. I respect the environmental promise that electric vehicles might support, but many people have many questions about that technology. Therefore, electric vehicles are not selling well. Ford has paused production on its electric pickup trucks because they are not selling.
Because the batteries are heavy and expensive, electric vehicles are costly. They are inconvenient. It takes a few minutes to fill a gas tank at a pump and then be on the road again, but batteries need hours to re-charge. Few auto owners have charging stations in their garages. It is possible to install charging stations at home, but it’s costly. Far beyond the cost of a charging system, I refuse to have E-cars in my garage because their batteries catch on fire without warning. I would become an E-car crispy critter. No, thank you!
These batteries pose other problems, including sources for the raw materials used in their manufacture. After they have been used up, where can they be stored in an environmentally safe way? Might they catch on fire in bulk and produce toxic fumes for decades?
There is no certainty that Hyundai and its subsidiary units will be here for the long haul. American automakers cut costs by relocating to places with cheaper labor, leaving Detroit and many other cities in the “rust belt” to become urban wastelands. It happened quickly. What if the self-absorbed madman who runs North Korea were swept from power, leaving that country’s starving millions free to rejoin their southern cousins? Look what a mass of cheap labor Hyundai would have right at home.
This is not the first moment of high hopes in rural Georgia. In the years just after World War II, many industries moved into the region. Most towns -- even small ones -- got a garment factory and a few welcomed heavier industries. The first in my “neck of the woods” came to Vidalia and people lined up for blocks hoping for jobs. Within a few years, there were several such plants in Vidalia and Lyons, Ailey, Mt. Vernon, Soperton, Metter, etc. Vidalia also had some heavier industrial plants and Statesboro echoed that pattern. Then one year, national trade policies changed and manufacturing moved overseas, leaving unemployed people and empty buildings. It was Statesboro’s good fortune to have Georgia Southern at a time of significant expansion.
It is necessary to touch on costs. If all goes as hoped, Bulloch and surrounding counties will see significant population growth, often in areas where present residents do not want the changes that new, denser population will bring. Bluntly, they are going to lose that struggle. Money -- or the prospect of money -- fuels change. The Southeast Bulloch schools will be impacted, even stressed. The powers that be should opt for the largest version for the proposed Southeast Bulloch High School.
The situation where Bulloch’s leaders have accepted the costs for drilling the deep wells for the Hyundai facility is a point of contention for many taxpayers. What’s more, their impact on the environment is a great concern for those living nearby. I read the news story about the reassuring report by the state’s Environmental Protection Division. That agency has a history of never saying “no” to business, the latest being approval for an Alabama entity to strip mine at the edge of the Okefenokee Swamp, which pleases few of the residents there.
The report projects an impact radius for the wells of five miles. The geometric formula for calculating the area of a circle yields 53.4 square miles, space for a lot of people. Thus, the recommendations for building holding basins (ponds) for water to be treated until potable, is accumulating a fund and to consider importing water from the Savannah River. The nearby Ogeechee would not stand up under the demand. The fund is to pay off damage claims by residents and area farmers.
The truth is that no one knows what the costs will be and few want to pursue the issue. The shine of the unexamined promise is too bright.
Roger G. Branch Sr. is professor emeritus of sociology at Georgia Southern University and is a retired pastor.