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It’s billed as the largest economic development project in Georgia history, an electric vehicle factory that could grow five times larger than the Pentagon and produce up to 400,000 emission-free trucks a year.

The factory, which will be built by startup electric car maker Rivian, is heralded by many as a $5 billion transformational investment that will boost the local economy with 7,500 new green jobs and accelerate the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy.

It also created an unlikely match, It combines Rivian, a California company dedicated to tackling climate change, and Governor Brian Kemp, a Republican, with the goal of bringing electric vehicle production to an area where gas-burning buyers dominate the road.

But in recent months the project has become embroiled in a kind of partisan politics that pulses in many areas of American life. Opponents hold rallies, organize online, deal with conspiracy theories and even threaten local officials.

And beyond the political debate, the debate about the factory is emblematic of the broader tensions plaguing the environmental movement, with the need to build new emission-free infrastructure colliding with the age-old drive to preserve pristine lands.

“This is a story about solar plants, wind farms and transmission lines for renewable energy all over the country,” said Michael Burger, executive director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University. “The viability of the trade-off will always be asked on a case-by-case basis, and sometimes NIMBYism will prevail.”

Opponents raise a number of concerns. Some fear that the factory will contaminate groundwater. Others disapprove of the lucrative public incentives offered to Rivian. Many worry that the massive facility will alter the idyllic character of the area, increase light pollution, batter traffic and encourage further development.

And now, the movement to shut down the Rivian factory has spread to the race for Georgia governor.

Opponents turned their anger on Governor Kemp, who is about to be reelected this year, and found a sympathetic ally in former Senator David Perdue. tough Governor Kemp Republic Elementary School.

On March 1, Mr. Perdue held a rally in Rutledge, near the planned factory location, about 80 miles east of Atlanta. He was introduced by the leaders of the opposition group and focused his words on why the Rivian factory was unfit for society and how Governor Kemp was sold to private interests.

Speaking to several hundred local residents in a leafy park, Mr. Perdue called in George Soros, a prominent Democratic donor whose hedge fund Rivian has $2 billion in stock. frequent target from conservatives.

“We can grow the economy without paying and selling our taxes to people like George Soros,” Mr. Perdue said cheerfully. “We can invest in rural Georgia without kicking our communities to the curb.”

Representatives of Governor Kemp and Rivian said they were sensitive to the concerns of the community and that the site selection and stimulus package was done correctly.

“People get worried when their communities are affected,” said Bert Brantley, Governor Kemp’s deputy chief of staff and one of the officials who helped Rivian withdraw into the state. “We don’t underestimate or underestimate him. This is a real effect that people will feel. They certainly deserve to have their questions answered.”

James Chen, Rivian’s vice president of public policy, said that concerns about the factory’s impact on the environment were unfounded and society should celebrate the arrival of new clean economy jobs.

“This is about an American company that is a leader in technology and innovation,” he said. “At the end of the day, we’re a green company and we want to do it green.”

Yet these assurances have so far done little to reassure some residents.

JoEllen Artz, a retired 74-year-old who lives near the plant and was one of the organizers of efforts to block the factory, said she believes this will destroy the local ecosystem and contaminate the aquifer in a community where most homes are well-used. That.

“This company that produces green products will destroy what Mother Nature has spent millions of years putting together,” said Ms Artz, a Republican who supports Mr Perdue’s governorship campaign.

The nearly 2,000-acre site where Rivian plans to build its factory is largely undeveloped. The property has a 200-year-old home that the company can help relocate, and residents hunt in the woods.

Some Democrats also oppose the factory. Jeanne Dufort, a local real estate broker, attended Perdue’s rally, wearing a t-shirt announcing her support for the gubernatorial candidate, Democrat Stacey Abrams.

“We are not red or blue,” said Ms. Dufort, who has lived in the area for 21 years, and said she was concerned the factory would irreversibly change the small-town feel of the area. “We’ve carefully defined what we want this community to be, and this isn’t it.”

Other residents of Rivian Opened to the public With a valuation of nearly $70 billion in November, it barely saw the stock tumble since then, may fail and leave the community an empty industrial site. Last week, Rivian reported Revenue of $55 million and net loss of $4.7 billion for the prior year plunged the company’s stock sharply.

Another source of contention is the government’s incentive package to Rivian. Governor Kemp has allocated $125 million in his proposed budget for land and training costs associated with the factory, and state and local municipalities are expected to give Rivian hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks over the coming years.

“If they’re going to give $125 million to a California company, I have to take the same option as the small business owner,” said Chas Moore, a partner at an auto repair shop. “The government should not choose winners and losers in the private sector.”

Others have expressed more general doubts about the viability of electric vehicles.

Landscape business owner Ray Austin, who attended the rally for Mr. Perdue, said even the most powerful battery trucks can’t carry all the gear they need for long days on the road. “I will never go electric in a car because I can’t,” he said.

Dena Astin, a kindergarten teacher, said she is concerned about potential contaminants in lithium batteries used to power electric vehicles. There are problems with electric cars as well as with gasoline cars,” she said.

At Rutledge, however, antipathy towards the Rivian factory has gone beyond a mere locality not in my backyard, and has at times turned into conspiracy.

Bruce LeVell, a Georgia businessman and adviser to former President Donald J. Trump, who introduced Mr. Perdue at the rally, used the project as an effort by Democrats to influence the vote in an overwhelmingly Republican county.

“We learned that Soros has a tremendous amount of money to support this project,” said Mr. LeVell. meeting With the far-right television network One America News. “We don’t need George Soros to get involved in anything about Georgia.”

The protests were at times scathing. Edwin Snell, who lived nearby, scolded officials at a public meeting with a local economic development group that supported the project, removing his red baseball cap and kicking them. “It’s a rural area,” he said with loud applause. “This is not an industrial waste dump.”

A Facebook group with more than 3,000 members has become a clearinghouse for negative articles about Rivian and Governor Kemp, and commentators have occasionally launched personal attacks on local officials involved in the project.

Shane Short, executive director of the Walton County Development Authority, said he and his family were facing online threats, causing him to withdraw from a planned public meeting.

“Some people say things they don’t mean when they’re angry or worried,” said Mr. Short, adding that he doesn’t believe the character of the community will be changed by the factory.

One problem of the kind Mr. Short faced has resulted in a low profile of residents who favored the project. A recent survey by the Georgia Chamber, a pro-business group, found that two out of three locals who were aware of the project supported the project.

“We don’t think it will change the small-town feel of our community,” Mr. Short said, adding that the factory would be a boon to the local economy. “We anticipate that many people in our community will go to work for Rivian.”

Mr. Chen said Rivian plans to reduce its impact on the area, including using recycled water instead of well water for production, minimizing light pollution and blending buildings into the landscape.

“We believe we will have zero impact on drinking water aquifers,” he said.

Still, the company’s underdogs continue to fight. They used GoFundMe to raise nearly $20,000 to support their campaign and seek legal aid.

But no matter how fierce the opposition to the plant, there is no easy way to stop it. Approval of Governor Kemp’s budget is pending, and construction on the site will begin this summer. Rivian plans to start manufacturing trucks there in 2024.

Even some opponents of the factory know that, like it or not, one of the world’s largest electric vehicle factories may soon be in their backyard.

“There will have to be political pressure on the governor or public court or Rivian to withdraw,” Ms Dufort said. “This is the only exit plan I’ve seen.”

Richard Fausset Rutledge contributed reporting from Ga.