ST. LOUIS—U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm will be in St. Louis Tuesday for a groundbreaking ceremony marking the a first of its kind battery materials manufacturing facility planned in south St. Louis.
ICL Group, a global specialty minerals company, announced last fall announced plans to build a $400 million battery materials manufacturing plant on the campus of its existing facility in the Carondolet neighborhood. The plant will produce lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode material, used in the lithium battery industry.
The company received a $197 million grant from the Department of Energy through the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act for the project. The facility should be in full production by 2025. ICL has said the facility means 150 new jobs.
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson will also attend, along with local business leaders.
Granholm’s appearance comes as U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo. and others have asked her to come to the region to visit St. Louis area sites impacted by the nation’s nuclear weapons program.
Last month, a coalition of news organizations reported on documents dating back to the 1940s that showed repeated instances where companies, contractors or the government could have addressed issues with contamination but didn’t.
Hawley held a news conference at the Department of Energy’s Weldon Spring Site, the former site of a uranium plant which today has a containment cell holding materials from the era and invited Granholm and President Joe Biden to come to the region.
A spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment Thursday on the possibility of visiting other St. Louis locations as part of Tuesday’s stop.
Local advocates say they are hopeful for a meeting but have nothing lined up.
A Hawley-sponsored provision in the pending National Defense Authorization Act would make residents in 20 St. Louis zip codes with certain medical conditions linked to nuclear radiation eligible for payment of medical bills and survivor benefits.
The bill passed the Senate but has to be reconciled in a conference committee with the House this fall before it goes to the President.
Wednesday night, a town hall meeting in New Melle drew more than a hundred people to share stories of health challenges for people living in the Coldwater Creek region of North St. Louis County and in St. Charles County, where Francis Howell high school bordered the former Weldon Spring uranium site.
Those in attendance pledged to get involved in the lobbying effort needed to see that the provision in the NDAA stays in the final bill. They are also hoping to amend the provision to add more zip codes and illnesses.
Granholm's visit will be the second to the region by a federal cabinet secretary in as many weeks. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was in East St. Louis Monday to announce $27.6 million in federal disaster relief for Metrolink.