How a controversial solar manufacturing facility could blur party lines in South Carolina

FORT MILL, S.C. — For more than a year, a battle over the planned Silfab Solar plant has dominated local politics in Fort Mill and York County. Now as November approaches, it could play a role in the battle for the fifth congressional district.

The district, which includes, Chester, Lancaster and York counties has been a Republican stronghold for nearly 15 years. Two years ago, Congressman Ralph Norman won re-election with a 30-point margin.

This year however, some self-proclaimed republican voters say they’re choosing his opponent, democrat Evangeline Hundley because they say he’s not doing enough to stop the Silfab Solar project and she says she would.

Ralph Norman the Republican

Looking at his policies and record, Congressman Norman is a conservative republican. He opposes big government spending, he considers illegal immigration one of the biggest threats to South Carolina’s safety and future prosperity and he hopes in 2025 he will work with a second Trump administration to undo the bloat he’s said the government has accumulated under four years of president Biden.

“You cut,” he said. “You reprioritize. You take about the DEI, you take out the woke programs,” he said.

To him, one of culprits behind that bloat is the Inflation Reduction Act. The legislation passed in 2022 without a single republican vote, setting aside billions in incentives, grants and tax credits to spur green energy manufacturing.

“This foolishness on battery operated cars, forced on the American people has got to stop and I think it will under President Trump,” Norman said.

Since the bill was signed, manufacturing companies have announced more than two dozen new projects in South Carolina, many of which are in the EV and battery sector.

“It’s a business they’re banking on which I understand that but it shouldn’t be driven by government subsidies to prop it up,” Norman said. “That choice for electric cars ought to be the choice for the American people.”

Evangeline Hundley the Democrat

Billing herself as a progressive democrat, Norman’s opponent, Hundley believes bills like the IRA are exactly what South Carolina needs.

“I am sick to my stomach every time I look at these types of bills, whether it’s Inflation Reduction, Infrastructure and Jobs Act, the Chips and Science Act, which brings manufacturing back to America that none of the congressional delegation on the Republican side votes for it.,” she said. “It does not make sense to me,”

Her campaign slogan is “Healthier, Wealthier and Wiser,” which to her means the government should be working to provide better access to healthcare and education as well as working to improve the local environment and combat climate change. A big way to do that, she believes is investing in clean energy manufacturing and the jobs that come with it, like the IRA and bipartisan infrastructure legislation do.

“[The bills] invest in the working families and middle class is building from the bottom up, middle out, and that is how we have got to that’s how we’re going to sustain ourselves,” she said.

How does Silfab Solar fit in?

Silfab Solar is one of those dozens of projects spurred by the IRA in South Carolina, and should the plant get up and running and hire the 800 employees it’s promising, the company will qualify for significant tax credits as a result of that bill.

It likely won’t surprise you the candidates disagree on whether that’s good for the district, but it might surprise you how.

Norman believes if Silfab Solar meets all its permitting obligations and secures approval from York County, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be able to operate.

“Am I gonna get involved in stopping a private business who went through all the steps to get their permits?” He said, “No. I’m not doing that.”

Hundley on the other hand, is courting the vote of the project’s vocal opposition which believes the project is dangerous and unhealthy for York County given the chemicals used in manufacturing and stored on site, especially given how close the facility is to two future Fort Mill Schools already under construction on the property next door.

“I understand the concerns of the community. I stand by them and that they need questions answered and they need to feel safe,” she said. “Even though we’re making huge investments in sustainability and green energy. We’re not going to do it at the cost of people’s health and their lives,”

Silfab Solar has received construction permits from the county and state, as regulators have ruled the company’s plans meet all state and federal environmental standards. Currently there are two pending legal battles related to the project.

One in which the company is appealing a May decision by the board of zoning appeals, which ruled solar panel manufacturing cannot operate in an area zoned light industrial. The other is from a group of citizens asking for a temporary restraining order and an injunction to prohibit the project from moving forward.

Norman hosted a forum in August aimed at answering citizen questions about the project, but he was shouted down by locals, frustrated they were not getting the answers they were looking for. Many in attendance carried signs reading “We’ll remember in November” or “We vote,” as a message to Norman that they were frustrated with his leadership on this subject.

“I disagree. It went great,” Norman said. “What we did was provide a forum to hear everybody. Did they answer every question? No, but the alternative of not having a meeting, I was not going to do that.”

Ultimately, it’s up to York County and the judges overseeing the pending litigation whether the Silfab project can move forward, but while Norman has said repeatedly it’s not his place as a congressman to interfere, Hundley has promised, if elected she will work to get more information out about the project and press the county council to change their minds.

“I understand. There’s been huge investments already made with this company, so it’s just not as easy as some might think,” she said. “Whatever all the money is for to build on green energy, we’re going to do it safely, equally.”

Expectation come November

Norman said he’s seen some of the criticism pointed his way as a result of his hands-off approach to Silfab Solar but he’s not concerned it will change any outcomes in November.

“For those who say that, that they’re not going to vote for me, that’s their choice. I’ll leave it up to the people to judge me,” he said. “I have a good record in congress.”

Hundley said she’s not counting on a Silfab swing either, but she hopes it’s just one of many signs the district is looking for a change, not just from Norman but from the current republican party.

“I have been confronted by more Republican, lifelong Republicans, who have come up to me and said that they’ve never voted for a Democrat a day in their life,” she said. “I’ve heard things like, I don’t want a dictator. I’ve heard things like, we’re headed for authoritarianism and I’ve lost my rights.”

While she banks on voters looking for a new future, Norman believes voters will remember the not-so-distant past and vote accordingly.

“Are you better off now under four years of Biden-Harris or are you better off during the Trump Administration?” he said.

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