{"id":1939371,"date":"2023-05-27T00:35:33","date_gmt":"2023-05-27T04:35:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/locals-furious-about-impact-of-new-chinese-owned-ev-battery-plant-they-took-the-lands-they-destroyed-the-soil\/"},"modified":"2023-05-27T00:35:33","modified_gmt":"2023-05-27T04:35:33","slug":"locals-furious-about-impact-of-new-chinese-owned-ev-battery-plant-they-took-the-lands-they-destroyed-the-soil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/locals-furious-about-impact-of-new-chinese-owned-ev-battery-plant-they-took-the-lands-they-destroyed-the-soil\/","title":{"rendered":"Locals Furious About Impact of New Chinese-Owned EV Battery Plant: &#8216;They Took the Lands, They Destroyed the Soil&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">36<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Flocals-furious-about-impact-of-new-chinese-owned-ev-battery-plant-they-took-the-lands-they-destroyed-the-soil%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1939371&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>DEBRECEN, Hungary (AP) \u2014 Just beyond the pastoral gardens and traditional homes of an eastern Hungarian village, a gigaproject of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/something-wrong-americas-powerful-tool-china-dire-straits-experts-say\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Chinese industry<\/a> is taking shape.<\/p>\n<p>Bulldozers and excavators are already preparing the land for construction of a nearly 550-acre electric vehicle (EV) battery plant. The 7.3 billion euro ($7.9 billion) factory will be one of Hungary\u2019s largest-ever foreign investments, and the government hopes it will make the Central European country a global hub of lithium-ion battery manufacturing in an era where governments are increasingly seeking to limit greenhouse gas emissions by switching to electric cars.<\/p>\n<p>But residents, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/biden-admin-caves-radical-environmentalists-reverses-decision-saved-lives\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">environmentalists<\/a> and opposition politicians worry that the sprawling factory \u2014 built by China-based Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL) \u2014 will exacerbate existing environmental problems, hit the country\u2019s precious water supplies and <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/eastern-europe-ap-top-news-international-news-croatia-china-d121bfc580f04e73b886cc8c5a155f7e\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">further undermine its economy to China<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou have this viscerally bad feeling when you walk past the area where they are building. I simply feel this bad feeling in my stomach,\u201d said Eva Kozma, 47, a local mother who has joined with other residents of a village near the building site to oppose the project.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is progress, this is the future? Pouring concrete over nature while we know how polluting the factory is going to be?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Kozma and others on the outskirts of Debrecen, Hungary\u2019s second-largest city, say they were blindsided by the announcement that the factory would be built on valuable agricultural land. They fear that the large quantities of water diverted to the plant for cooling equipment will threaten their water supply, and that chemicals from the plant could leech into the soil and water, damaging the region\u2019s natural resources.<\/p>\n<p>That region, the Great Hungarian Plain, is threatened by desertification, a process where vegetation recedes due to high heat and low rainfall. <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/drought-rainfall-climate-change-flooding-satellite-51ba64f58528e5db93e846765b2da9f3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Climate change-driven droughts and record heat waves<\/a> in the area have compounded heavy water use by agriculture and depleted groundwater, resulting in devastating crop yields.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, Hungary experienced its hottest summer on record, and nearly 2.5 million acres, or 20% of the country\u2019s croplands, dried out. Experts say that unless a comprehensive water retention plan is enacted, much of the region will soon be unsuitable for agriculture.<\/p>\n<p>Yet despite these environmental struggles, Hungary\u2019s government believes that the European Union\u2019s ambitions to <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/europe-business-european-parliament-climate-and-environment-a9c3f6c3c123ede7566ae7425b4f7181\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">phase out the manufacture of internal combustion engine vehicles<\/a> by 2035 present a unique opportunity for the country to take its place as a leader in EV battery production, and has embarked on a major push to attract such investments.<\/p>\n<p>And there will likely be buyers: transport represents nearly a quarter of Europe\u2019s greenhouse gas emissions, and more than 70% of those emissions are caused by road transport. If the EU is to reach its <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/95d0381308164e7b867dd0e0d869bf15\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">goal of net zero emissions by 2050<\/a>, EVs will play a pivotal role.<\/p>\n<p>CATL\u2019s 100 GWh battery plant in Debrecen, which is expected to create around 9,000 jobs, is the largest of a number of EV battery factories popping up around the country, part of the government\u2019s strategy to serve foreign car manufacturers present in Hungary \u2014 like German carmakers Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz \u2014 as they transition to battery-powered vehicles.<\/p>\n<p>Hungary\u2019s foreign minister, Peter Szijjarto, said earlier this month in Beijing that the presence of those German carmakers had \u201cinspired\u201d the recent spate of Chinese investments in EV battery plants, and that \u201cthe Chinese suppliers of these German companies continue to regard Hungary as the meeting point of East-West investment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gabor Varkonyi, an auto industry expert, agrees that the effort to attract battery makers makes good sense for Hungary\u2019s economy \u2014 especially given that more than 20% of the country\u2019s exports comes from the automotive industry.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is very much in Hungary\u2019s interest for these investments to appear here, especially arm in arm with German technology,\u201d Varkonyi said. \u201cThis way, both can be tied here in the medium term, so that neither will be able to work successfully without the other. In this sense, it is an absolute national interest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Dalma Dedak, an environmental policy expert with WWF <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/hungarys-pm-orban-elected-4-years-victory-international-left-soros-empire-mainstream-media\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hungary<\/a>, says that despite intentions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by making cars electric, there\u2019s been a lack of environmental impact studies on the longer term consequences for Hungary\u2019s air, soil and water.<\/p>\n<p>Details have only been released on the first phase of the CATL plant\u2019s multi-stage construction, she said, so its footprint on the environment once it is fully running remains unknown \u2014 something that has eroded trust between the affected population and the government.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is of concern that the approval procedure for the first phase of the plant does not show what kind of water consumption and emissions can be expected when the entire plant is built,\u201d she said. \u201cThat is, will Hungary\u2019s resources be sufficient for these ambitious plans?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The water consumption of the industrial park where the factory is located is expected to amount to more than 40,000 cubic meters (10.5 million gallons) per day \u2014 doubling the drinking water consumption of Debrecen and laying a major burden on a region in the midst of a historic water crisis, Dedak said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the long run, it\u2019s a problem and a question of how to supply water to such a water-scarce city,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>CATL says that 70% of its water consumption will come from gray water \u2014 household wastewater that has been purified \u2014 though this plan was not present in the environmental impact study for the first phase of the factory. Hungary\u2019s Ministry of Economic Development did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Other critics of the investment point to the economy\u2019s dependence on foreign-owned automobile companies, and see it as a <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/hungary-europe-business-government-and-politics-education-35f4d55eca487cc4fb6e02f0b9ed8870\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">deepening of the foothold Hungary has provided to China<\/a> in Central Europe.<\/p>\n<p>Laszlo Lorant Keresztes, president of the Hungarian parliament\u2019s Committee on Sustainable Development, said that Hungary\u2019s economy \u201cis very vulnerable to the automotive industry, and this (plant) increases that vulnerability.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Speaking at a protest opposing the factory in Debrecen this week, Keresztes said the roughly 800 million euros ($861 million) in infrastructure and tax incentives Hungary\u2019s government will supply to CATL is \u201can unrealistic amount of money per job,\u201d and that \u2014 as in the case of German car makers \u2014 the majority of capital generated would be exported.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese are essentially assembly plants, and they take the profits away from here. It is also typical that they do not give work to Hungarian people, not to the local people, but to foreign guest workers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the residents outside Debrecen worry that the massive plant will bring traffic and noise that will spoil the idyllic community where they came to raise their children. But mostly, they\u2019re afraid of the irreversible impact it could have on their natural world.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey took the lands, they destroyed the soil, they destroyed the air, the water,\u201d said Eniko Pasztor, 65, a local activist who plans to leave the area if the plant is completed as planned.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s no amount of money that can fix what we have ruined. We have to make sure that what we have remains,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019ve done a lot of damage already. I don\u2019t understand why we need more, more, more.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP\u2019s climate initiative <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ap.org\/press-releases\/2022\/ap-announces-sweeping-climate-journalism-initiative\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>. The AP is solely responsible for all content.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-style: italic\">The Western Journal has not reviewed this Associated Press story prior to publication. Therefore, it may contain editorial bias or may in some other way not meet our normal editorial standards. It is provided to our readers as a service from The Western Journal.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/locals-furious-impact-new-chinese-owned-ev-battery-plant-took-lands-destroyed-soil\/\">Locals Furious About Impact of New Chinese-Owned EV Battery Plant: &#8216;They Took the Lands, They Destroyed the Soil&#8217;<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\">The Western Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DEBRECEN, Hungary (AP) \u2014 Just beyond the pastoral gardens and traditional homes of an eastern Hungarian village, a gigaproject of Chinese industry is taking shape. Bulldozers and excavators are already preparing the land for construction of a nearly 550-acre electric vehicle (EV) battery plant. The 7.3 billion euro ($7.9 billion) factory will be one of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":1939372,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[548],"tags":[7895,6737,17252,4517,5663,11279,10285,3919,14327,4510],"class_list":["post-1939371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conservative-news-daily","tag-destroyed","tag-battery","tag-chinese-owned","tag-furious","tag-impact","tag-lands","tag-locals","tag-plant","tag-soil","tag-they"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1939371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1939371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1939371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1939372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1939371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1939371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1939371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}