Rivian's Future Georgia Neighbors Aren't Thrilled

[Autolycus]

OK, darn you @SeaGeo for starting me down this rabbit hole on a Saturday night!

Social Circle, the town closest to the factory, was 70% Trump in 2020. Looks like Rutledge was similar, but I'm struggling to read the terrible txt file format that I could open -- the XLS sheet is not opening correctly in Numbers, for some reason.

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[SeaGeo]

OK, darn you @SeaGeo for starting me down this rabbit hole on a Saturday night!

Social Circle, the town closest to the factory, was 70% Trump in 2020. Looks like Rutledge was similar, but I'm struggling to read the terrible txt file format that I could open -- the XLS sheet is not opening correctly in Numbers, for some reason.

Lol. Sorry. I just find it entertaining to fight a manufacturing plant when bringing manufacturing back and removing regulations is the economic platform of the party the area overwhelmingly supports.

 

[Autolycus]

Lol. Sorry. I just find it entertaining to fight a manufacturing plant when bringing manufacturing back and removing regulations is the economic platform of the party the area overwhelmingly supports.

At the end of the day, NIMBY-ism is a pretty consistently non-partisan ideal, unfortunately.

 

[SeaGeo]

At the end of the day, NIMBY-ism is a pretty consistently non-partisan ideal, unfortunately.

Yep! It amazing we ever get anything done.

 

[nc10]

We already know from our....visitors....that there is some local uproar about the plant.

I do wonder how much pushback there would be if it was Ford or GM building this facility instead of Rivian.

I follow a Kennesaw St (Georgia) economics professor on twitter, J C Bradbury, initially because he published some interesting stuff on baseball. But he currently studies govt incentives a lot, and is pretty negative on the return on incentives that Georgia agencies have provided for sports stadiums, the movie industry, and likely on what they will provide Rivian. Sounds like Rivian is being offered huge incentives, will be interesting to find out what all the incentives are and how much pushback Kemp will get along those lines also.

Atlanta journal article on the incentives.
https://www.ajc.com/politics/georgi...kely-largest-ever/2G62JS2TKFGRXNCWODF7UPOUX4/

Bradbury is pretty fun to follow if you are interested in this kind of stuff, sports economics and govt incentives to industry in general. He's not a fan of laws requiring local dealerships either.

 

[R1T7777]

^ say you don’t understand the cost of infrastructure or population density of US/EU without saying you understand it…

Oh, I get that underground power lines are a much higher investment upfront. Long term, the reduced maintenance costs help defray the initial costs. Clearly in rural areas underground power may not be feasible, though northern California would probably save $ on fire fighting if they put lines underground. Urban density in the US is not all that lower than in areas of Europe with underground power lines.

 

[R1T7777]

Overhead is much cheaper to construct. And much cheaper and much quicker to repair.

Of course, but also more prone to damage and causing fires.

 

[Zoidz]

Georgia now has legislation in motion to allow direct sales. Politics as usual.


"The measure, Senate Bill 398 — sponsored by Sen. Ben Watson, R-Savannah, and co-sponsored by Sen. Burt Jones, R-Jackson — sets up a high-stakes battle between electric-vehicle companies and the politically powerful Georgia auto dealership lobby.

It also could pit Jones, who is running for lieutenant governor with former President Donald Trump’s blessing, against one of his opponents, Senate President Pro Tem Butch Miller, R-Gainesville, a car dealer who has received huge financial backing from the industry. Jones’ family also owns car dealerships."

 

[AdamsFan1983]

At the end of the day, NIMBY-ism is a pretty consistently non-partisan ideal, unfortunately.

Yea, but people who support NIMBY in principle would have to support RIVIAN building there, to be intellectually consistent. If you like the concept of NIMBY, you'd actually want a massive eyesore of a factory to be built in the middle of nowhere where it directly affects the fewest people

These people aren't nimby activists, they're just blinding reacting to what they perceive to be a threat to what they perceive their way of life to be. Its the culimination of a decade or more of being spoon fed partisan political messaging telling them to hate everything about Rivian: Development, technology, electrication, enviormental consciousness, silcon valley, etc.

 

[Atlrivian]

Georgia now has legislation in motion to allow direct sales. Politics as usual.


"The measure, Senate Bill 398 — sponsored by Sen. Ben Watson, R-Savannah, and co-sponsored by Sen. Burt Jones, R-Jackson — sets up a high-stakes battle between electric-vehicle companies and the politically powerful Georgia auto dealership lobby.

It also could pit Jones, who is running for lieutenant governor with former President Donald Trump’s blessing, against one of his opponents, Senate President Pro Tem Butch Miller, R-Gainesville, a car dealer who has received huge financial backing from the industry. Jones’ family also owns car dealerships."

Miller has directly killed legislation exactly like this for the last few sessions. I wouldn't count on this seeing the light of day.

One other wrinkle is where Perdue stands on direct sales. Kemp is out of favor with Trump for failing to deliver Georgia in the last election, so Trump is backing Perdue. As someone who has driven many miles through rural Georgia, Trump flags are still very popular.

In other words, if Purdue beats out Kemp in the Republican primary thanks to Trump's blessing, all bets are off regarding direct sales/support for Rivian.

Ps I realize I'm making an insane argument since Perdue's entire brand before the last election was that he was a multimillionaire business man / traditional fiscal conservative.

 

[JCElectricSUV]

Miller has directly killed legislation exactly like this for the last few sessions. I wouldn't count on this seeing the light of day.

One other wrinkle is where Perdue stands on direct sales. Kemp is out of favor with Trump for failing to deliver Georgia in the last election, so Trump is backing Perdue. As someone who has driven many miles through rural Georgia, Trump flags are still very popular.

In other words, if Purdue beats out Kemp in the Republican primary thanks to Trump's blessing, all bets are off regarding direct sales/support for Rivian.

Ps I realize I'm making an insane argument since Perdue's entire brand before the last election was that he was a multimillionaire business man / traditional fiscal conservative.

 

[JCElectricSUV]

I just sent in a letter to my local senator in support of SB 398. I did so last year for the house bill as well. That said, with the new plant planned in Georgia I hope our elected officials can see the light and it is definitely green. Hopefully all of the Georgia Rivian crew here on the forum and beyond can raise our elected officials motivations to support the new direct selling model. My comments were simply about free trade and the best customer expericence models will survive. I can only hope now.

 

[kurtlikevonnegut]

Miller has directly killed legislation exactly like this for the last few sessions. I wouldn't count on this seeing the light of day.

The direct sales team is swinging a much bigger stick this time around though with Rivian. I'll be following this closely because I know I can buy a car in GA and still pay SC sales tax (capped at $500) on the car.

 

[Autolycus]

Yea, but people who support NIMBY in principle would have to support RIVIAN building there, to be intellectually consistent. If you like the concept of NIMBY, you'd actually want a massive eyesore of a factory to be built in the middle of nowhere where it directly affects the fewest people

The people who are upset about the factory are literally the ones whose backyard the factory will be in. Yes, it's rural, but also, yeah, there really are people who live there.

I don't agree with their opposition to the factory, but they're the very definition of NIMBYs. They support the factory going somewhere else in Georgia. Anywhere but their rural town.

 

[AdamsFan1983]

The people who are upset about the factory are literally the ones whose backyard the factory will be in. Yes, it's rural, but also, yeah, there really are people who live there.

I don't agree with their opposition to the factory, but they're the very definition of NIMBYs. They support the factory going somewhere else in Georgia. Anywhere but their rural town.

I don't disagree, I'm observing the intellectual inconsistency of complaining about a factory being too close to residences when its slated to be placed in the middle of rural countryside.

I understand the handful of people of people that live in adjacent properties are upset, but deal with the old fashioned american way. Bide you time, sell your property for a massive profit, and move futher into the boonies where your windfall will buy that much more...

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