by Dick Hall-Sizemore

It is not only Northern Virginia that is beginning to feel the effects of Trump administration policies and actions. Southwest Virginia, Trump territory, is also being affected.

Earlier this month, Volvo announced it would be laying off 250-350 employees at its Volvo Trucks New River Valley plant in Pulaski County. As reported by The Roanoke Times, the company cited “the negative impact on heavy truck orders because of market uncertainty about freight rates and demand, possible regulatory changes and the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.” The plant currently employs approximately 3,400 workers. These layoffs are in addition to 250-350 layoffs announced in February.

Further to the south, there is concern about the fate of Pittsylvania County’s new, huge economic development project. Last fall, with much fanfare, it was announced that Microporous, a Tennessee-based manufacturer of battery separators, had selected Pittsylvania’s Southern Virginia Megasite (known locally as Berry Hill) as the site for a $1.35 billion facility. The company projected that the facility would provide about 2,000 high-paying jobs.

Part of the financing for the facility included a $100 million federal grant from the Department of Energy, from funds authorized in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (commonly known as the Biden Bipartisan Infrastructure Act). According to Virginia Business, in March it was reported that the Dept. of Energy had developed a “hit list” of federal grants for renewable energy projects that the Trump administration could claw back. The list is not public and members of Congress, such as Sen. Mark Warner (D-Virginia), much to their frustration, cannot find out what projects are on the list. As a result, Microporous has announced that, due to the uncertainty surrounding the federal grant, it was delaying the start of construction from April to June or July. County and company officials are putting a brave face on the delay, but there is concern.

Undoubtedly adding to their concern is knowledge that, already this year, two proposed large battery facilities in other parts of the country have been cancelled, a $1 billion thermal battery plant in Georgia and a $1.2 billion lithium-ion facility in Arizona.

If the battery separator project falls through, it would be especially devastating to the Pittsylvania County/Danville area, coming on top of an announcement in February by the Goodyear plant in Danville that it would be eliminating 850 jobs. The Danville Bee and Register reported in March that, as a result of that decision, 177 workers were being laid off. To be fair, the Goodyear job reductions were not the result of any actions of the Trump administration, but rather a change in the function of the Danville plant. Instead of actually making tires there, workers would be mixing ingredients together to make a tire compound. Nevertheless, any reduction in jobs in that area of the Commonwealth exacerbates conditions in one of the poorer parts of the state.