Propulsion without the need for petroleum: That’s the lithium-ion battery’s promise.
Backed by government incentives across the globe, lithium-ion batteries are hailed as key to a green transportation revolution — and for good reason. They cut planet-warming emissions. They promote independence from fossil fuels.
Today, electric vehicle purchases are soaring. They’re expected to account for half of car sales worldwide in the next decade.
But as battery production ramps up — amid record spending to combat climate change — so does a hidden risk that few outside New Jersey or southern France may recognize. And it’s a risk residents of Augusta, Georgia, and communities along the South’s “battery belt” and elsewhere ought to know.
The same companies that spewed “forever chemicals” linked with cancer and other diseases in neighborhoods around the world are now key players in the development of EV batteries — sometimes with hefty taxpayer support. Often those comp... Read more
