Butte competing for new battery component manufacturing plant

Butte, Montana — If Butte hopes to lure a Norwegian business to construct a plant south of Butte that will produce parts for lithium-ion batteries and create a lot of well-paying jobs, it will have to compete with a community in Washington state.

“We talk with them every couple weeks and everything is going well, so we’re very excited to continue those conversations and they’re still very interested in our community,” said Butte Community Development Director Karen Byrnes.

The city of Richland, Washington, is a potential location for a 40,000-square-foot facility owned by the corporation Cenate.

However, the corporation initially expressed interest in expanding the factory at the Montana Connections industrial park south of Butte to Butte last spring.

An update on the project was recently provided to the Butte Council of Commissioners.

“We are still very much in the running and when they come, we’re going to give them the great Butte welcome and make sure they pick Butte,” said Butte Economic Development Coordinator Kristen Rosa.

As an inducement to locate here, Senate officials requested a 75% tax abatement from Butte-Silver Bow last May.

This year, the corporation intends to revisit Butte in search of additional inducements to reach a decision.

“There is another tax abatement that they are going to come forward with and ask for. This is one that was put through the legislature in 2023; it is a manufacturing equipment tax abatement,” said Rosa.

Moreover, Richland is thinking of using abatements to entice the facility.

Regaining this facility would mean creating a large number of well-paying jobs in Butte, according to economic officials.
“These are these primary sectors that would be created where we would be growing our population as a result of this company locating here,” said Byrnes.