Rivian, the electric truck pioneer that was just a gleam in RJ Scaringe’s eye about five years
ago, announced last week its plan to invest $5 billion and
create as many as 7,500 jobs at a site east of Atlanta that will produce
up to 400,000 vehicles per year. Construction on the facility on 2,000
acres in Walton and Morgan counties is expected to begin in summer 2022,
and the start of production is slated for 2024. Site considerations
included logistics, environmental impact, renewable energy production,
availability and quality of talent and fit with Rivian company culture,
the company said. This morning, Site Selection EVP Ron Starner spoke
with George Department of Economic Development Commissioner Pat Wilson,
who told him that RJ Scaringe visited the state one time. “It was a make
or break moment,” he says, and Georgia Governor Brian Kemp was between
meetings. “He helicoptered in. RJ was in a truck. They went for a ride
and they came back. Both CEOs knew this was the right place to be. I had
the pleasure of sitting in the back seat while they were talking. That
is a fast vehicle.” (Watch for more reporting on the project in the
January 2022 issue of Site Selection.)
The company’s plant in Normal, Illinois, was recently approved for its
own 623,000-sq.-ft. expansion. That will bring the total footprint of
the Normal plant to approximately 4 million sq. ft., with further plans
to extend warehouse, storage, and production capacity onsite. “Rivian’s
hiring in Normal is scaling rapidly,” the company said, “with plans to
hire an additional 800-1,000 employees in Normal by the second quarter
of 2022.”
According to a report from DND based on a Tweet from the Prime
Minister’s Advisor on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood, Dubai-based Brothers
Gas has committed to this investment in the Faisalabad Special Economic
Zone (SEZ), also known as the Allama Iqbal SEZ. The first part of the
three-phase investment will include the installation of an Aerosol
Propellant Gas (APG) plant. Dawood noted that the local manufacturing
will help reduce Pakistan’s reliance on imported APG. As reported by The
Express Tribune last May, apart from the Gwadar Free Zone, a total of
nine SEZs are planned under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Authority,
including the three priority SEZs in Sindh, Punjab and
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa: Dhabeji SEZ, Allama Iqbal Industrial City, and
Rashakai Economic Zone.
Despite an ongoing global pandemic, Georgia remains “Open for Business.”
Georgia Department of Economic Development Commissioner Pat Wilson
explains how the Peach State gets it done.
A new Good Jobs First paper, “Federal Dollars, States’ Recoveries: How Poorly
Most States are Disclosing CARES Act Spending,” evaluates the
accessibility and content of each state’s Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF)
website and highlights examples of good and bad disclosure with regard
to the $111.8 billion in combined funds. According to the report, only
six states do it well: Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts,
Michigan and Wyoming. Meanwhile, eight states and the District of
Columbia “fail to disclose any meaningful information online,” says GJF.
The CRF, a provision of the 2020 CARES Act, directly funds states to
cover COVID-related costs through the end of 2021. “The money — $150
billion in all, which also flows to large localities, territories, and
tribal governments — intentionally gives state leaders wide flexibility
for how the money was spent, to target the specific needs of their
residents,” says the report.
Everybody has a chance to correct their wayward ways, however: The
states have “another, even bigger pot of money to track,” the report
notes, “the $195 billion in state aid from the Coronavirus State and
Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (CSLFRF) included in the 2021 American Rescue
Plan Act (another $155 billion went to other localities, territories,
and tribal nations).”
On Saturday, December 11, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope was secured on
top of the Ariane 5 rocket that will launch it to space from Europe’s
Spaceport in French Guiana.
Photo
courtesy of ESA-M.Pedoussaut
Exploring the origins of the universe is about to take a giant leap.
NASA anticipates the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope on an
Ariane 5 launch vehicle from the European Space Agency’s facility in
Kourou French Guiana no earlier than Friday, December 24. “The James
Webb Space Telescope’s revolutionary technology will study every phase
of cosmic history — from within our solar system to the most distant
observable galaxies in the early universe,” NASA says. “Webb’s infrared
telescope will explore a wide range of science questions to help us
understand the origins of the universe and our place in it. In the 29
days after liftoff, thousands of parts must work correctly, in sequence,
to ensure that Webb can unfold into its final form. And as all of this
takes place, Webb will fly through the expanse of space to a destination
nearly 1 million miles away.”
Webb is an international partnership between NASA, ESA and the Canadian
Space Agency, along with over 300 universities, organizations, and
companies from 29 U.S. states and 14 countries. Additional information
about the Webb mission can be found on the mission’s websites: www.nasa.gov/webb and www.webb.nasa.gov
