Breaking ground and breaking records.

Gold Shovel Winner

Kentucky earns a Gold Shovel with a characteristic blend of automotive, logistics, and local adult beverage flavor. It, too, rakes in the EV-related jobs, with the Envision AESC facility in Bowling Green leading the way with an expected 2,000 jobs, and recognized as a Manufacturing Project of the Year. Ascend Elements will be recycling EV batteries and making engineered cathode active materials in Hopkinsville, a billion-dollar deal worth about 400 jobs. In Louisville, Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant is expanding to the tune of $700 million and 500 jobs, preparing for production of the F-Series Super Duty truck.

Gold Shovel Winner

Another project driven by climate change is the EnerVenue facility planned in Shelby County. About 450 people will make energy storage equipment there. Mayfield Consumer Products is recovering from severe tornado damage with a project that could create nearly 500 jobs. Catalent’s flagship pharma operation in Winchester is growing, and there are logistics projects involving Trader Joe’s in Franklin, Amazon Air in Hebron, and longtime Louisville logistics player UPS. As for the adult beverages, Beam Suntory’s expansion in the Kentucky community of Boston will make more Jim Beam while producing fewer greenhouse emissions, while bourbon-maker Sazerac is investing $600 million to build bourbon-barrel warehouses and expand its cooperage in the community of London.

As mentioned in the online sidebar on EVs/batteries, Gold Shovel winner Kansas lands on the EV map in a big way with a Panasonic Energy Co. lithium-ion battery plant in De Soto worth as many as 4,000 jobs, which is recognized as a Manufacturing Project of the Year. That’s definitely a big deal, especially in a smaller state. But the state also records logistics wins that reflect its central location and a host of food processing and agribusiness deals that tap into its agricultural heritage.