Rivian Horizon has made headway in its hard-fought effort to build a 2,000-acre electric truck plant after an appellate judge validated $15 billion in bonds, reversing a lower court ruling denying it.

The Joint Development Authority (JDA) of Jasper, Morgan, Newton and Walton counties convinced the Georgia Court of Appeals that taxable revenue bonds in an amount up to $15 billion, to be used to finance the plant’s construction, were justified due to an established economic benefit to the local community, Judge Ken Hodges said in an opinion, overturning a prior decision by the Morgan County Superior Court.