"In Cedartown, Ga., a solar recycling company’s plan to hire 1,200 people could be upended by Republicans in Congress."
"Outside the husk of a shuttered yarn factory, thousands of old solar panels lie stacked on the gravel. Local leaders say they can see the future here: 1,200 people recycling millions of those panels each year and making the glass to build new ones.
This is no field of dreams. A company, Solarcycle, has already spent about $50 million of $500 million it plans to invest to turn the empty space into a recycling operation and build an adjacent glass manufacturing plant. Land has been purchased, permits have been secured, and hiring for jobs starting at $40,000 annually could be just months away.
It’s the kind of project that scientists say could ultimately reduce carbon emissions and that economists call a major step in bringing manufacturing back to the United States from China. And it spells opportunity in Cedartown, Ga., a city of about 10,000, where Pirkle’s Deli on Main Street does a brisk lunch business but other establishments see little foot traffic. Once operational, Solarcycle would be the area’s largest employer.
And yet President Trump’s “big, beautiful” bill has stopped the Solarcycle factory in its tracks. The legislation, which passed the House and is now being debated in the Senate, would essentially eliminate the tax breaks that companies have been counting on to build new wind and solar projects, electric vehicle battery factories and more."
Lisa Friedman reports for the Washington Post June 7, 2025.
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