OEPA to Hold Public Meeting on GM-LG Plant
LORDSTOWN, Ohio – The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency will host a public meeting regarding water-quality issues around the proposed GM-LG Chem battery plant in Lordstown on March 12.
The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. in Crawford Auditorium at Lordstown High School. Written comments may be submitted to the Ohio EPA through the close of business March 19.
“Discharges from the activity, if approved, would result in degradation to, or lowering of, the water quality of the Mud Creek watershed within the Mahoning Watershed,” the agency said in its notice of the meeting. “Ohio EPA will review the application and decide whether to grant or deny the certification.”
On Jan. 9, Gigapower LLC – the working legal name for the GM-LG venture – submitted its water quality certification permit to the Ohio EPA for the 158-acre site.
The plant, estimated to cost $2.3 billion, will need 1.6 million square feet of manufacturing space and additional room for more structures and features, such as parking.
The selected site would cause the least amount of environmental damage of the final two sites that were considered, Gigapower said in its certification application.
Just off state Route 45 and directly east of GM’s former Lordstown Assembly Complex, the battery plant site has 65.99 acres of wetland. To reduce the impact, Gigapower proposed a “permittee-responsible mitigation” in its application to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the on-site wetlands on a 180-acre parcel in the Mosquito Creek Wildlife Area, northeast of Cortland.
The Ohio EPA said the GM-LG Chem venture is aiming to start construction in April, with an estimated January 2022 completion date.
Pictured: The site where the joint venture between General Motors and LG Chem plan to build a 1.6 million-square-foot battery plant in Lordstown.
Related Coverage
- Jan. 14: GM, LG Chem Select Site for Joint Venture Battery Plant
- Jan. 16: Permit Applications Detail Needs for GM-LG Plant Site
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