President Donald Trump’s administration is reportedly not going to award a $197 million federal grant to a future north St. Louis battery plant after all.
The St. Louis Business Journal reports the move impacts ICL Specialty Products. The company will make battery materials for electric vehicles and energy storage.
State Sen. Doug Beck, D-Affton, told Missourinet he’s disappointed by Trump’s move.
“I think it’s a shame that this is legislation that was passed and then somehow, this is unprecedented, another administration comes in takes funds away when it was specifically passed by Congress,” said Beck.
The company is building a $500 million factory that aims to create more than 150 jobs.
“Republicans and Democrats alike, you know, should be talking up and speaking about this because it’s hurting us across our state, across the country and in many different ways of competing and being competitive, you know, for the long term in the world. And it’s going to set us back quite a bit,” said Beck.
The development is meant to revitalize a historically underserved part of the city.
“It helps so many different things – it helps crime levels, it just helps hope, it helps the communities, helps neighborhoods rebuild, you know, and then plus, as you know, we have the tornado go through. So these are hard hit areas that we could really use some help,” said Beck.
According to the St. Louis Business Journal, U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the cuts are meant to save taxpayer dollars, with many of the grant cuts being on clean-energy projects.
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