"SAVANNAH, Ga. — A federal agency plans to reassess its environmental permit for Hyundai’s $7.6 billion electric vehicle plant in Georgia after a conservation group complained that regulators failed to properly examine the sprawling factory’s potential impacts on the area’s water supply.

The Army Corps of Engineers said in a letter Friday that state and local economic development agencies that applied for the project’s 2022 permit never mentioned Hyundai wanted to withdraw up to 6.6 million gallons (25 million liters) per day from the underground aquifer that’s a major regional source of drinking water.

Details of the plant’s needs came out earlier this year as the Georgia Environmental Protection Division considered a proposal for four new wells to supply water to the auto factory. As a result, the Army Corps said it will revisit its finding that the project would have “negligible impacts.”"

Russ Bynum reports for the Associated Press August 26, 2024. [2]