US agency to reexamine permit for Hyundai's $7.6 billion electric vehicle plant in Georgia

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — 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.

Details of the plant's needs came out earlier this year as the Georgia Environmental Protection Division considered a proposal for four new wells to supply water to the auto factory. 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. The site will produce EVs and the batteries that power them. The South Korean automaker plans to employee 8,000 workers at the plant, making it the largest economic development project Georgia has ever tackled.

The Army Corps ordered no delays or disruptions to construction at the plant site as a result of its permit reassessment.

“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. She said it wasn't known how long the additional review might take.

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.

The Army Corps concluded then that the project would have “negligible impacts on municipal and private water supplies." Its Friday letter said the agency relied on information provided by economic developers.

“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.

Tollison said he expected the updated information requested by the Army Corps to be submitted within 10 days. 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.

“There’s enough water for everyone,” Tollison said. “We feel really good about where we are.”

Georgia's environmental agency issued draft permits in July for the four wells to supply Hyundai. It's now evaluating public comments before reaching a final decision. 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.

State regulators concluded that water withdrawals by the Hyundai plant would lower water levels in the aquifer up to 19 feet (5.8 meters) for private wells within 5 miles (8 kilometers). They said most wells won't see any impacts because they reach deeper into the ground.

The state agency has also said that nearby rivers and streams won't be affected because dense layers of rock seal off the aquifer from water at the surface.

Kirsch with the Ogeechee Riverkeeper said he hopes a second look by the Army Corps will provide more details on how state regulators reached those conclusions.

“We definitely want to see the Corps independently evaluate this," Kirsch said. “This should have been all considered before the wetlands were filled and buildings went up.”

Construction continues at Hyundai's $7.6 billion electric vehicle plant in Ellabell, Ga., Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Russ Bynum)

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's central bank hiked interest rates to their highest since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine more than 2 1/2 years ago, a step aimed at combatting the inflation fuelled by massive government outlays for the military — and by robust spending from Russian consumers in shops.

The bank raised its key rate to 19%, just below the level from late February 2022. Then the policy rate reached an unprecedented 20% in a desperate bid by the bank to shore up the ruble and ward off a financial collapse amid sanctions imposed by Western governments.

Today's situation is different: inflation is a sign of an economy overheating from government outlays and consumer demand that are outpacing the economy's capacity to produce goods and services.

Muscovites shopping Thursday on Bolshaya Dorogomilovskaya Street in western Moscow were well aware of the pace of price increases.

“I wish wages would grow as much as prices in stores," said Natalya, who like others declined to give a last name. "Everything is expensive. Eggs, bread, flour, sugar, salt, everything is expensive.”

Andrei said that “half of the salary goes on food alone. And if you take into account that 70 percent of ordinary people have a mortgage and large consumer loans in the form of car loans and so on, so the people, one could say, are starving.”

“What to do?" said Irina. "I do not know what to do, it is not my business to decide what to do. They need to stop the prices increase and, perhaps, stop some political actions that entail inflation.”

Factories are running at full speed to produce goods including clothing and vehicles for the military. As a result, many workers are seeing rising pay and consumer demand has been robust, adding more fuel to the inflation fire.

Despite sanctions and shoppers disgruntled over their grocery bills, Russia's economy remains in solid shape in many ways. The economy grew 4.4% in the second quarter. The ruble has been stable recently, after losing some 40% of its value against the dollar and the euro since 2022. Government finances, boosted by oil exports, are in good shape despite increased spending, with modest deficits easily covered by borrowing from Russian banks.

Over the longer term, inflation, loss of foreign markets and foreign investments because of sanctions can mean lower growth and income.

And there's a risk that high borrowing costs will hurt Russian companies and growth in the coming months.

Central bank head Elvira Nabiullina said however that more rate hikes could be forthcoming to return inflation from the current 9.1% to the bank's target of 4% in 2025.

“We feel this is achievable next year and we are pursuing the policy to make that happen,” Nabiullina said at a news conference following the rate decision. “We are ready to maintain tight monetary conditions for as long as needed, we are also ready to raise the key rate further.”

She cited the corrosive effects of too-high inflation, including the erosion of people's savings, high borrowing rates on longer-term loans and mortgages, and the risk of inflationary expectations becoming entrenched in wages and prices.

Higher interest rates make it more expensive to borrow and spend on goods, in theory relieving pressure on prices. Higher interest on savings can also convince people to set their disposable income aside rather than splurge. So far the central bank has been fighting a losing battle, and economists say that at some point tight credit may slow growth.

Rising wages and a strong jobs market have helped shoppers compensate for inflation and as a result “consumer activity remains high,” the central bank said.

“The reason they have raised the rate is because they want to cool what is a very fast growing consumer market," said Chris Weafer, CEO at Macro-Advisory Ltd. consultancy. "And their fear is that unless they can slow down the consumer market, then that will lead to a bubble which will then burst and leave the economy in a much worse situation."

Government revenues are supported by economic growth and by continuing exports of oil and gas with less than airtight sanctions and a $60 price cap imposed by Western governments on Russian oil. The cap is enforced by barring Western insurers and shippers from handling oil priced over the cap. But Russia has been able to evade the price cap by lining up its own fleet of tankers without Western insurance and earned some $17 billion in oil revenues in July.

FILE - People walk past a currency exchange office with an army recruiting billboard calling for a contract for service in the Russian armed forces in Moscow, Russia,on Aug. 14, 2023. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - People buy fruits at a hypermarket in Moscow, Russia, on Nov. 3, 2023. (AP Photo, File)