RUTLEDGE, Ga. — The stalled Rivian electric truck plant promised east of Atlanta has produced headaches for local residents – including, they say, muddy water that has poured from their faucets in the weeks since the project went on hold. They claim construction workers have hit ground water sources when they cleared the land.
Alan Jenkins’ running water comes from a well. He used to change the water filter yearly. Now, it only takes 30 days for the white filter to turn a gunky brown from mud that’s fouled his well water. He has documented it too often, he says, with photos from his sink.
"Every time it rains with a decent amount of rainfall, we get mud that’s coming through in the groundwater and coming up here through the pump," Jenkins said.
Next door, Eddie Clay has the same issue. His water filter was the color of mud when he changed it at midday Friday.
"We started seeing it three weeks after they started moving dirt," Clay said.
The dirt moving started two years ago at the Rivian auto assembly plant side within eyeshot of Clay and Jenkins’ homes. Both residents pull water from a spring they say is located underground at the site, still owned by the state of Georgia. The state has used taxpayer money to clear the land as part of a billion dollar incentive package with Rivian – the auto maker that dazzled state officials with its electric trucks.
Last month, Rivian abruptly announced its assembly plant was on hold indefinitely. Rivian has until 2030 to decide whether to come back.
Friday, the Atlanta Business Chronicle reported that attorneys for the state and Joint Development Authority of Jasper, Morgan, Newton and Walton counties notified Rivian on March 22 of the company's obligations to preserve the site and protect the surrounding environment.
"[T]here are several threatened claims against the project," the attorneys said in the letter, per the Chronicle. Rivian's obligations to the site "are critically important for all parties in the immediate future," they said.
They told Rivian the site will need post-construction storm water plans and permit obligations, an updated hydrology study, management and stabilization, security, and ongoing insurance, according to the Business Chronicle.
"They are continuing to disturb the site. But they have already significantly damaged the site by digging into the groundwater," Jenkins said Friday. He and Clay were among the residents who tried unsuccessfully to stop the project.
11Alive sought comment from a publicist working with the Joint Development Authority managing the site but did not hear back.
Clay moved to his farm house in Morgan County five years ago, drawn by the absence of industry and big-city development.
The pause in the project represents only an empty victory for residents adjacent to what had been woods and rolling farmland, scraped clean for industry.
"It's not really a victory. It’s more like a 'we told you so,'" Clay said.
Clay predicted the state will find another industrial project for this site if Rivian permanently loses interest. Either way, he said, his water source unlikely to improve.