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Could Kansas Panasonic plant get hit in Trump's campaign against clean energy?

President of Panasonic North America Allan Swan addresses the press at the company’s De Soto battery manufacturing facility.
Julia Schnittker / Johnson County Post
President of Panasonic North America Allan Swan addresses the press at the company’s De Soto battery manufacturing facility.

The changing political landscape around clean energy makes for an uncertain future for Kansas students training for jobs at the multi-billion-dollar Panasonic Energy plant in De Soto, Kansas.

In order to help build the workforce of the new electric battery plant in De Soto, Kansas, Panasonic Energy partnered with community colleges, including in Kansas, to create a pathway into a career at the manufacturing hub expected to employ 4,000 workers.

An investment into clean energy by former President Joe Biden — which included a push to get more electric vehicles on the road in the U.S. — is being unraveled by President Donald Trump.

"This could have a really negative cascading effect, where, if there's no demand, then factories will produce less of these EV batteries because the EV cars don't need them. And then, you know, fewer students are needed and so, that could become a really big deal," said Kavitha Cardoza, a contributing writer to the Hechinger Report.

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