Opinion: Threats to Inflation Reduction Act could imperil S.C.'s robust economy; here's how

Bob Keefe
·3 min read
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Thirty-five years ago, I was a young business reporter for The Greenville News, covering real estate, banking and economic development in the Upstate and beyond.

Back then, the textile industry was hanging on by a thread. The banking industry was mired in the savings and loan crisis. And all the jobs were going either overseas or to other states.

Today, South Carolina is leading ― and benefitting from ― the biggest and most important economic transition in our country’s history.

That is, if lawmakers from South Carolina and elsewhere don’t kill it, just for the sake of politics.

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In Spartanburg, BMW is investing $1.7 billion to expand its factory to build electric cars and is also building a new $700 million battery factory in Woodruff.

Bob Keefe is executive director of the national nonpartisan business group E2 and author of the book “Climatenomics: Washington, Wall Street and the Economic Battle to Save Our Planet.” He was a business reporter for the Greenville News in the 1980s, and also covered business and Washington for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Bob Keefe is executive director of the national nonpartisan business group E2 and author of the book “Climatenomics: Washington, Wall Street and the Economic Battle to Save Our Planet.” He was a business reporter for the Greenville News in the 1980s, and also covered business and Washington for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

In Chester County, Albemarle Corp. announced a new $1.3 billion lithium processing plant that will create 300 jobs making the core material for batteries used in electric vehicles.

In Blythewood, Volkswagen is resurrecting an American auto icon, the Scout SUV and pickup truck, with a new electric vehicle factory that will employ upwards of 2,000 workers.

In Columbia, Cirba Solutions is building another $300 million battery materials company that will create another 300 jobs. And in Orangeburg, a new $33 million solar panel factory will create 200 more jobs.

There’s a reason all these projects are happening: It’s called the federal Inflation Reduction Act, the sweeping policy designed to transition the American economy to a cleaner, more resilient future and make it more competitive in the global marketplace.

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Since Congress passed the law last August, businesses have announced more than 170 major clean energy projects nationally, representing nearly $80 billion in corporate investments and at least 60,000 new jobs, according to analysis by my organization. When you include earlier clean-energy projects that have moved forward since the law, the number of new jobs in the works is closer to 142,000 – about twice the entire population of the City of Greenville (in 2021).

Unfortunately, some lawmakers in Washington – including some from South Carolina - are trying to kill the very policies that are creating all these jobs and economic growth.

The U.S. House recently passed a debt ceiling bill that would repeal much of the Inflation Reduction Act and the manufacturing investments and tax credits that come with it, putting all those projects and the investments and jobs that come with them at risk. All of South Carolina’s Republican lawmakers, including Upstate Rep. William Timmons, voted for it.

Republican lawmakers have vowed to kill these job-creating policies that Congress passed less than a year ago not because they’re bad for our economy or environment or American jobs and competitiveness, but solely to make a political point.

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That’s regrettable. We send our elected officials to Washington to help create jobs and grow our economy back home, not kill off promising new employment opportunities for us and our children for the sake of a political fight.

We want them to pass policies that help America become more competitive and stronger, not weaker, as China and the rest of the world surge ahead in the global race for a clean, more resilient economy.

Lawmakers in South Carolina and elsewhere know the climate and clean energy policies passed by Congress last year do just that.

They should put partisan politics aside, and let the state and its residents continue to reap the benefits.

-Bob Keefe is executive director of the national nonpartisan business group E2and author of the book “Climatenomics: Washington, Wall Street and the Economic Battle to Save Our Planet.” He was a business reporter for the Greenville News in the 1980s, and also covered business and Washington for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Opinion: Lawmakers shouldn't play games with S.C.'s robust economy