Rural Western North Carolina Community Protests ‘Covert’ Plans for EV Battery Plant

An organization called the Stop Burke-Lake James Megasite was formed by residents to fight what they see as government overreach.

A view of the southeast shore of Lake James in Morganton, NC, from the Fonta Flora Trail approximately three miles from the megasite where an EV battery plant could be constructed (Courtesy of Bill Connell).

A group of residents in western North Carolina are protesting their county board’s lack of transparency over furtive moves to welcome an electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturing the residents believe would pollute their waters and ruin their scenic countryside.

In October 2023, the North Carolina state legislature allocated $35.8 million to Burke Development Inc. for the purchase of a 1,400-acre property on which to build an industrial megasite in Burke and McDowell counties.