Chatham County is one of North Carolina’s “Triangle adjacent” counties, located south of Chapel Hill and west of Wake County. It’s home to the towns of Pittsboro, Siler City, Goldston and Moncure. Along with its rural unincorporated communities, the county is home to nearly 80,000 after experiencing a 25 percent population growth between 2010 and 2022.
That growth is only expected to increase as multiple industries — including the electric vehicle manufacturing company VinFast — make their way to the region.
“North Carolina is quickly becoming the center of our country’s emerging, clean energy economy,” said Gov. Roy Cooper at the announcement in 2022. “VinFast’s transformative project will bring many good jobs to our state, along with a healthier environment as more electric vehicles take to the road to help us reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
According to site plans for the plant, VinFast’s factory will reside on a 1,977 acre (800 hectare) plot with three main areas: electric cars and buses production and assembly, EVs batteries production and ancillary industries for suppliers.
VinFast’s arrival in Chatham County, North Carolina, marks a significant milestone not only for the county but also for the automotive industry in the United States. VinFast’s focus on electric vehicles aligns with broader trends in the automotive industry towards sustainability and reduced carbon emissions. By manufacturing electric vehicles in Chatham County, VinFast not only aims to meet the growing demand for eco-friendly transportation options but also to leverage the county’s resources and infrastructure to enhance its production capabilities. It would help to expand the EV market in America, in turn, helping to make EVs an accessible option for Americans.
However, several have expressed concerns regarding the potential environmental impact a manufacturing plant like VinFast would have on surrounding communities. According to reporting from NC Newsline’s Lisa Sorg, Chatham County is a “pollutant-prone” area, with several industries including Arauco (who has a history of air quality violations), the Shearon Harris nuclear plant, the former Brickhaven mine and Duke Energy’s retired Cape Fear coal-fueled power plant.
“The VinFast project is an enormous site in Chatham County, with a mission to increase electric vehicles and reduce carbon emissions,” Haw Riverkeeper Emily Sutton said in an interview with Sorg. “But this company that has touted an environmental conscience has submitted a proposal that would destroy thousands of feet of streams, cross the Haw River, and permanently fill dozens of acres of wetlands.”
Qnotes has spoken to several officials in Chatham County about VinFast and other developments, and what they’re doing to prepare for their arrival.
Who is VinFast?
VinFast is a Vietnamese automotive manufacturer that was established in 2017 as a subsidiary of Vingroup, one of the largest conglomerates in Vietnam. The company made headlines with its ambitious plans to become a major player in the global automotive industry. VinFast aims to produce high-quality vehicles, including electric cars, scooters, and electric buses, with a focus on innovation, design, and sustainability.
VinFast’s flagship electric car models include the VinFast VF e35 and VF e36, which offer features and performance comparable to other electric vehicles on the market. The company has also ventured into other segments such as electric scooters and electric buses in an effort to provide “greener” solutions for urban mobility.
In addition to its focus on product development, VinFast has pursued an aggressive expansion strategy, both domestically and internationally. The company has built manufacturing facilities in Vietnam and is now working to establish a presence in other markets, including the United States and Europe.
VinFast’s entry into the automotive industry has been met with both excitement and scrutiny. While the company has garnered praise for its innovative approach and ambitious goals, it also faces challenges such as establishing brand recognition, building a global distribution network, and navigating regulatory requirements in various markets.
A history riddled with pollution
Chatham County has weathered several environmental crises, one of the most infamous being the continual contamination of the Haw River from upstream industries. One of the towns in Chatham County, Pittsboro, directly draws its water from the river, thus resulting in several instances where the town’s drinking water would be dangerous for its population to drink.
In 2021, then Pittsboro mayor-elect Cindy Perry went to a Greensboro city council meeting, where she confronted them on the issue of discharges of 1,4-Dioxane — an unregulated chemical often used as an industrial solvent.
She walked up to the podium, with a water bottle — and some paper cups — in hand.
The bottle contained potable water from Pittsboro’s treatment plant, the same water which has, for the last few weeks, contained traces of 1,4-Dioxane contamination resulting from a Nov. 3, 2021, discharge into the Haw River of the likely carcinogen from Greensboro.
“It’s a health crisis for our children, vulnerable citizens and all of us,” Perry said. “There is not a solution yet, and the source of the poison is still unknown.
“It is not an exaggeration to say it is a matter of life and death.”
Mountaire in Siler City had previously been named as one of the largest polluters in the region, and according to further reporting from Sorg, the NC Dept. of Environmental Quality has repeatedly cited the plant for many violations, including exceedances for fecal coliform, nitrogen ammonia and aquatic toxicology standards.
Because of this, Siler City could no longer allocate water or wastewater to approved developments, effectively shutting down growth until they met with the terms and conditions from the state.
“We know we have extreme limitations on our ability to grow,” Siler City Town Manager Hank Raper said in an exclusive interview with Qnotes. “We have limitations on our ability to discharge wastewater … so we need a long term alternative, because, obviously, we need safe, clean water.”
Since then, the town of Siler City has worked to improve its own infrastructure. Raper said through a Special Order by Consent (SOC), the town has been able to meet guidelines in order to continue improving the town’s infrastructure and keep development moving.
What communities are doing to prepare for the growth
Towns like Siler City are working to prepare for the environmental impact of VinFast and other industries, including a semi-conductor chip manufacturing plant coming specifically to Siler City.
Mayor Donald Matthews, who has lived in Siler City for most of his life, said he’s trying to ensure the town keeps its residents in mind when moving onto planning things.
“Personally, I’m looking at it from the standpoint of how it’s going to impact our current risk,” he told Qnotes. “How do we take care of them? And how do we make sure they don’t get lost in the shuffle of all of this?”
That’s why Siler City is asking its residents for input on studies it’s having completed to evaluate water rates, stormwater infrastructure, a strategic plan and more.
All of these plans will help ensure the town has a written down set of goals and relative timelines for when projects will be completed and issues will be addressed.
“We don’t have water and sewer now, we have a very limited amount under an SOC — that comes nowhere near the demand that we have coming our way,” Raper said. “We’re hoping that within the next couple of years, the state will give a few 100,000 gallons, which we have way more demand than that, so that’s going to require the future growth of the town, despite the fact we have VinFast… we are still going to be behind on the housing need all these people need to live here.”
Raper said as an economically distressed community, Siler City had not done everything it needed to do to prepare for this magnitude of growth. However, he said the town is working diligently to prepare for the incoming industries.
“Were there things in the past that could have been done that would have helped us out today? Sure,” Raper explained. “This town has been economically distressed for a long time. So I can’t sit back and say the town has a half a billion dollars in water and sewer needs and then sit here and say, if we only raised the water rate enough, we could figure out how to raise half a billion dollars. It’s not a solvable problem by local controls — it’s a much bigger problem than that.”
Matthews said he believes the town will be able to take on challenges as they arise.
“Something new pops up that was not expected or was not planned for all the time,” he said. “You have to adjust accordingly to make sure that it’s taken care of.”