A federal regulator is reopening its assessment of the environmental impacts of Hyundai Motor Group’s $7.6 billion electric vehicle factory near Savannah, citing new information and a potential legal challenge for revisiting the case.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said in a letter last week it will reevaluate a previously issued wetland permit, requesting new data from state and local leaders involved with the largest economic development project in Georgia history. The reassessment was spurred by the Ogeechee Riverkeeper filing an intent-to-sue notice in June over the permit, alleging the Army Corps and U.S. Treasury Department failed to properly assess the environmental impact of the massive factory’s water needs.
The area’s chief economic development official, Trip Tollison, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution the additional review will not impact the factory’s construction timeline. Called the “Metaplant,” the automobile factory could open as soon as October, several months ahead of schedule. Hyundai has said it will eventually employ 8,500 workers.
“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 said in a statement.
The reassessment, however, is a rare step by the Army Corps and another sign of mounting tension over the potential impacts of large factories like Hyundai’s plant in Coastal Georgia, where groundwater withdrawals are tightly regulated.
“These considerations should have been taken into account from day one, but we are encouraged to see that the (Army Corps) will finally review these issues in full,” Damon Mullis, the Ogeechee Riverkeeper’s executive director, said in a news release. “Once all of the data is on the table, we urge the Corps to independently and vigorously vet and verify this information in its reevaluation, and to be transparent with the public during this reevaluation process.”
The 2,906-acre project site in Bryan County, which hugs the Ogeechee, has been earmarked for a large development since 2014, undergoing several environmental reviews over the past decade. The Georgia Environmental Protection Division oversees water infrastructure and usage, while the Army Corps regulates protected wetlands.
Credit: Stephen B. Morton for the AJC
Credit: Stephen B. Morton for the AJC
State and local officials wooed Hyundai to Bryan County with a package of incentives valued at up to $1.8 billion, including hundreds of millions for water infrastructure, provided Hyundai meets jobs and investment goals. Concerns over the plant’s potential impacts on local water supplies have sparked concern from local farmers, activists and environmental watchdogs like the Ogeechee Riverkeeper.
The Army Corps issued a permit — known as a 404 permit — in October 2022 to allow Hyundai to dredge and fill wetlands, adding that the 16 million-square-foot factory would not require additional water withdrawals from the Floridan aquifer. Several counties near the factory have legal limits on how much water they can draw from the aquifer, which underlies much of Georgia, Alabama, Florida and South Carolina.
But EPD is in the process of considering permit applications for four wells in neighboring Bulloch County that would be allowed to withdraw up to 6.5 million gallons of water per day from the region’s main source of drinking water. Much of that water would benefit the Hyundai factory along with future new development in Bryan County.
Those plans were not previously submitted by state and local agencies to the Army Corps, and information about those wells and their environmental impacts are the crux of what is being requested as part of this new review.
Tollison, along with the Georgia Department of Economic Development and Savannah Harbor-Interstate 16 Corridor Joint Development Authority, said they’ve adhered to the required guidelines and will promptly provide the Army Corps with the newly requested information.
“We appreciate the (Army Corps’) diligence to ensure that all information is being considered in its permit, and as we have done with all (of the Army Corps’) requests, we will deliver this information as soon as possible,” they said in a joint statement. “Our plan will provide water for (the Metaplant) while protecting and preserving the local environment, and we remain committed to doing this the right way.”
Credit: Courtesy Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America
Credit: Courtesy Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America
Adam Orford, an assistant law professor at the University of Georgia, said it’s rare for the Army Corps to reassess 404 permits after they’ve been issued. Army Corps’ policies allow for reevaluations to occur if a permit’s terms and conditions are broken; if the permit’s application included false, incomplete or inaccurate information; or if “significant new information surfaces.”
“It’s a part of the process that doesn’t get used very often,” Orford said in an email. “... But there are rules in place to allow for it to happen because it does sometimes need to happen, and the Corps is following those rules now.”
The Army Corps will reevaluate whether Hyundai’s project will affect municipal or private water supplies, and whether the 404 permit needs to be adjusted to include special conditions to compensate for potential adverse impacts. Bulloch and Bryan counties, Hyundai and other stakeholders have established a $1 million mitigation fund to help property owners affected by the water withdrawals to pay for well upgrades, but local residents still fear they’ll be left high and dry.
The Ogeechee Riverkeeper said a lawsuit remains possible depending on the conclusion of the Army Corps’ reassessment. Orford said the additional review will likely help the Army Corps if this issue ends up in court.
“By taking the time to strengthen its record now, the Corps is actually improving its chances in court later, and thus the chances that the project will be built,” he said.
- Staff writer Adam Van Brimmer contributed to this report.
