Treasury Secretary visits Bessemer City manufacturing center

BESSEMER CITY, N.C. — United States Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen was in the Charlotte area on Thursday to talk about how federal money is helping a local manufacturer.

Yellen visited Bessemer City with North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper to tour the Livent facility.

During the tour, Yellen and Cooper talked about how federal support from the Biden Administration helped the company expand and hire more workers.

Cooper said the push for more clean energy is bringing more money to some households.

“We must do our part to fight climate change, but even those who don’t agree with that have to acknowledge the great paying jobs that the clean energy economy is bringing to American families, and particularly North Carolina families,” Cooper said.

The pair were at Livent because it’s the country’s largest producer of lithium hydroxide, which is a key component to battery production.

Yellen pointed out that tax credits in the federal Inflation Reduction Act are aimed at boosting clean energy manufacturing. Since it passed, Livent has doubled its capacity, Yellen said.

She added that those tax credits also help create more jobs.

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