Cancellation of Planned Detroit Battery Plant Signals a Return to Business Reality

The climate alarm community is all verklempt this week about the recent move by Australian mining giant Fortescue to pull the plug on its planned $210 million electric vehicle (EV) battery plant in Detroit. The company cited "current policy settings" in the U.S. as the primary culprit, a not-so-subtle nod to the Trump administration's rapid demolition of the bloated tax credits and subsidies that propped up these pie-in-the-sky projects under Biden and Harris.

Oh, darn. Such a loss.

Ok, just kidding: This cancellation isn't a tragedy—it's a reality check for an industry that's been feeding at the taxpayer trough for far too long.

Fortescue, known more for its iron ore operations Down Under than for dabbling in battery tech, announced this ambitious venture back in 2023. The plan was to repurpose an old auto factory in Motor City into a high-tech hub for producing EV batteries and chargers. They promised 600 new jobs, a boon for Detroit's struggling economy, and positioned it as part of their "Race to Real Zero" emissions push.