An El Nino-less summer is coming. Here's what that could mean for Canada
As Canadians brace themselves for summer temperatures, forecasters say a weakening El Nino cycle doesn’t mean relief from the heat.
Hyundai Motor Group confirmed Friday the company will spend $5.5 billion on a huge electric vehicle plant near Savannah that will employ thousands -- a deal Georgia's governor called the largest economic development project in the state's history.
Hyundai Motor Group CEO Jaehoon Chang made the announcement with Gov. Brian Kemp at the site of the future factory in Bryan County, where state and local officials purchased a flat, sprawling tract for $61 million last year in hopes of luring a major manufacturer.
"Hard-working Georgians are going to have the opportunity to have a really high-paying, advanced manufacturing job with a great company," Gov. Brian Kemp said in an interview.
Hyundai said it will employ at least 8,100 workers at the plant near the unincorporated town of Ellabell, where it will assemble electric vehicles as well as vehicle batteries. The company and state officials said they expect suppliers to invest an additional $1 billion.
"It's going to continue to bring wealth and opportunity to the region," said Kemp, who predicted a ripple effect that will boost businesses from Savannah's already booming seaport to restaurants and convenience stores.
The announcement came as President Joe Biden is visiting South Korea. He was scheduled to meet with Hyundai's CEO in Seoul on Sunday. Jake Sullivan, the president's national security adviser, told reporters Biden "will have the opportunity to say thank you for this significant investment that will occur in the United States."
The timing was fortunate for Kemp, who is being challenged by former U.S. Sen. David Perdue in a Republican primary election that will be decided Tuesday.
It's the second huge electric vehicle plant announced in Georgia in less than a year. Rivian Automotive announced in December plans for a $5 billion electric truck plant east of Atlanta that's expected to employ about 7,500 workers.
Kemp declined to discuss details of what incentives and tax breaks the company was offered for locating in Georgia. Rivian received and package worth $1.5 billion.
Hyundai said plans to move quickly with construction and hopes to begin producing vehicles in 2025.
The company will build the plant on 2,200 acres (890 hectares) that the state and partner local governments bought a year ago about 40 kilometres inland from Savannah. Bryan County and neighboring Chatham County, which includes Savannah, each chipped in $9 million toward the $61 million purchase price.
The land sits adjacent to Interstate 16 that links Savannah and Macon, not far from its intersection with Interstate 95 that spans the Eastern Seaboard. It's also near to the Port of Savannah, the fourth-busiest U.S. seaport.
Kemp predicted the Hyundai plant will become one of the biggest customers for Savannah's port, which has already seen explosive growth in recent years.
Hyundai Motor Group sells cars under the Hyundai and Kia brands. The South Korean automaker already operates two American assembly plants in Montgomery, Alabama, and in West Point, Georgia.
Perdue planned a campaign stop in Savannah on Friday afternoon with Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and GOP vice presidential candidate. Perdue has accused Kemp to trying to buy his re-election with the Rivian deal and its big incentives.
Kemp brushed off the criticism, noting Perdue's record of outsourcing U.S. jobs to overseas manufactures as a corporate executive.
The governor said incentives help Georgia compete for big projects with states such as South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. He pointed to the Kia plant in West Point as one that filled a void when the local textile industry shut down years earlier.
"You've seen downtowns that used to be ghost towns, they're vibrant communities now," Kemp said. He added: "These are investments that we'll be reaping the benefits of 20 to 30 years down the road."
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AP reporters Aamer Madhani in Seoul, South Korea, and Jeff Amy in Atlanta contributed to this story.
As Canadians brace themselves for summer temperatures, forecasters say a weakening El Nino cycle doesn’t mean relief from the heat.
Canada Post is increasing stamp prices for the third time since 2019, a move the Crown corporation says is a "reality" of its sales-based revenue structure.
The federal New Democrats are calling out Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and his party for trying to block the bill that could pave the way for millions of Canadians to access birth control and diabetes coverage.
Defence lawyers of Jeremy Skibicki have admitted in court the accused killed four Indigenous women, but argues he is not criminally responsible for the deaths by way of mental disorder – this latest development has triggered a judge-alone trial rather than a jury trial.
A daily spoonful of olive oil could lower your risk of dying from dementia, according to a new study by Harvard scientists.
An Ontario MPP was asked again to leave the Ontario legislature on Monday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment that was banned by the Speaker last month due to its political symbolism.
H5N1 or avian flu is decimating wildlife around the world and is now spreading among cattle in the United States, sparking concerns about 'pandemic potential' for humans. Now a health expert is urging Canada to scale up surveillance north of the border.
Democratic Institutions Minister Dominic LeBlanc will be tabling legislation on Monday aimed at countering foreign interference in Canada. Federal officials have scheduled a technical briefing on the incoming bill for Monday afternoon.
Polish prosecutors have discontinued an investigation into human skeletons found at a site where German dictator Adolf Hitler and other Nazi leaders spent time during the Second World War because the advanced state of decay made it impossible to determine the cause of death, a spokesman said Monday.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.