For weeks, Kansas officials have been tight lipped, urging lawmakers and the public to trust them as they sought to commit more than $1 billion in incentives to lure a “mystery company”, promising over a thousand jobs. According to the Kansas City Star, signs and sources now point to a new Panasonic Battery Plant that would make hundreds of thousands of batteries for electric vehicles. Panasonic, which had agreements to build batteries to power electric vehicles for both Tesla and Toyota, would likely land outside of Desoto if Kansas wins the project. It would likely be located at the Old Sunflower Ammunition Plant. The nine thousand acre site is the areas largest underdeveloped property. It sets south of K-10 between Lawrence and Olathe.
Governor Laura Kelly’s office declined to comment when asked to confirm or deny the name and location of the project. Even without the Governor’s comment, the Desoto City Council recently annexed six thousand acres of Sunflower and approved the first steps of a massive incentive package that will help the developer fund demolition and environmental cleanup. The Governor did sign the Bill passed by the Legislature last week, that provided huge incentives to the “mystery company”.
