'Sorry for my frankness, but let’s get to it' | Emails detail growing frustration between Gaston County commissioners, Piedmont Lithium
WCNC Charlotte reviewed more than a thousand pages of emails exchanged between Piedmont Lithium, Gaston County commissioners, residents, and county staff.
As Piedmont Lithium was touting progress toward eventually mining lithium near Cherryville, Gaston County commissioners were privately criticizing the company and voicing alarm about the mine's impacts, according to a WCNC Charlotte Defenders investigation.
Piedmont Lithium has claimed their mine, which would sell lithium it extracted to electric car companies like Tesla, would result in hundreds of millions of dollars of economic investment.
However, county commissioners were airing concerns about the mine's impacts on traffic, pollution, and surrounding property values in January 2021, months earlier than previously reported.
The commissioners' frustrations came to light during a July 20, 2021, public meeting between commissioners and company leaders.
Two lawsuits are currently pending in federal court, in which, investors accused Piedmont Lithium of misleading shareholders, in part, by making it seem like they had strong local, political support.
Piedmont Lithium has denied allegations it misled shareholders, and the company said in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) documents that it intends to fight the lawsuits.
WCNC Charlotte's Defenders team reviewed more than a thousand pages of internal county emails detailing months of conversations between county commissioners, county employees, residents, and Piedmont Lithium's senior leadership.
Jan. 13, 2021 'Company is acting flippant'
In January 2021, Commissioner Allen Fraley, whose township would include Piedmont Lithium's mine, if approved, asked the board not to vote on a critical rezoning permit the mine needed until commissioners got all the information they requested from county staff.
"It certainly appears to me that PL [Piedmont Lithium] is acting in a manner this is a done deal and will get a 'rubber stamp' approval," Commissioner Fraley wrote. "I don't think that will be the case."
Commissioner Tracy Philbeck responded, "As of now, Gaston County gets the hole, the mess, the traffic, the environmental consequences and that is about it."
Commissioner Tom Keigher, who was the board's chairman last year, followed up by saying he ran into former county attorney Chuck Moore who, "agrees with us about concerns. [The] company is acting flippant."
That same month, according to the shareholder lawsuits, Piedmont Lithium's CEO Keith Phillips declared "2021 will be an important year for our Piedmont Lithium Project" as they planned to "finalize permitting" in their "aggressive plans in North Carolina."
Piedmont Lithium was scheduled to meet with commissioners in March 2021, but the company canceled just days before the meeting as it focused on re-domiciling from Australia to the United States.
April 19, 2021 Communication missteps
On April 19, 2021, Malissa Gordon, who worked for Gaston County's Economic Development Commission before becoming Piedmont Lithium's community and government relations manager, emailed an update on the company's progress toward building the mine.
Commissioner Chad Brown replied, "Why are we the last to know the plans of this organization? We yet have heard anything of substance but everyone else has. I have been asked more from people for or against this site but nothing from Piedmont. It's hard to say or tell anyone other than no one has presented ANYTHING to us."
Gordon wrote back, "We know we haven't taken the right steps or direction as far as informing you all about the project. It truly hasn't been to hide anything or to make you think we can do this project without the support of Gaston County."
She continued, "Again, we know this hasn't been the best start with you all as far as communication and we apologize for that."
Brian Risinger, Piedmont Lithium's vice president of corporate communications and investor relations, sent similar update emails in May and June.
In response to one of the emails, Commissioner Brown wrote, "Frankly, I'm tired of seeing this continue through email...we should have been the first stop, not the last."
Commissioner Keigher also responded to one of Risinger's emails by writing, "Sorry for my frankness, but let’s get to it. I see no more need [for] messages that have no real info."
Aug. 10, 2021 A seat at the table
Following the July 20 meeting, Gaston County commissioners voted on Aug. 6 to place a 60-day moratorium on all mining activities in the county.
Commissioners had previously hired Tom Terrell, who has expertise in the mining industry, to represent them in communications with the company.
Following the moratorium vote, Piedmont Lithium responded with a press release on Aug. 9, saying, "The Company looks forward to constructive engagement with the county commissioners and staff on the many important matters subject to their review."
The next day, Terrell, emailed Piedmont Lithium’s attorneys, "Not to be testy, but Piedmont Lithium has shared an abundance of information with an abundance of people, and I've received nothing. I don't even know what I don't know. If your client wants a seat at the table, it needs to be pro-active and creative in figuring out what I need from you."
Piedmont Lithium's response
In addition to the company's previous denials of the allegations in the shareholder lawsuits, Piedmont Lithium released the following statement Monday afternoon: "With respect to any of our communications with County staff and the Board of Commissioners, we have openly addressed this subject in two public forums. In each case we recognized the importance of establishing an open and interactive channel of communications as our proposed project is considered by the County and the community. We also openly recognized and addressed that there was room for improvement with respect to when we were communicating, early on in our discussions with the County. We believe any dialogue challenges are now behind us and we are following the direction of the County when it comes to the cadence and focus of discussions regarding our proposed project. As always, we welcome any questions from the community or County leaders and those can be directed to Brian Risinger at: brisinger@piedmontlithium.com."
Contact Brandon Golder at bgoldner@wcnc.com and follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.