3 days ago
Opponents of Marshall, Michigan battery plant seize on Bill Ford's warning
LANSING — Opponents of Ford Motor's Co. under-construction $2.5 billion, 1,700-job electric vehicle battery plant 100 miles West of Detroit in Marshall, Mich. welcomed Bill Ford's warning that it is at risk if federal production tax credits go away, saying residents never wanted the factory.
Marshall Township Treasurer Glenn Kowalske and grassroots activist Julie Ann Bryant, critics of the project that was announced in 2023, were given the floor on June 4 to voice their concerns to the Republican-led Michigan House Oversight Committee's corporate subsidies and state investments subcommittee, which is scrutinizing economic development deals.
Ford's BlueOval Battery Park Michigan was thrust back into the spotlight last week when Bill Ford, the Dearborn-based automaker's executive chairman, said if Congress makes the plant ineligible for a key manufacturing subsidy due to its ties to China-based Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL), it would 'imperil what we do in Marshall.' The project also is being supported with state and local tax incentives and state infrastructure grants.
'I'm encouraged that the project could be stopped,' said Kowalske, who won election in November. 'It's going to sound funny because it's 60 percent complete, right? However, I think right from the beginning … the community really didn't want this facility. It didn't want this industrial development. We still don't want it.'
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The Committee for Marshall-Not the Megasite tried to challenge the development with a referendum but lost in trial and appellate courts, which ruled the matter could not go to voters because Marshall included an appropriation in an ordinance rezoning the land. Its appeal is pending before the Michigan Supreme Court.
'It certainly is frustrating that so much time, energy and resources (have) been spent using taxpayer dollars to destroy a community like yours for a project that may not even come to fruition.' the subcommittee chair, Rep. Steve Carra, R-Three Rivers, told Kowalske. 'But I'm encouraged that there's a chance that it may not come to fruition. I appreciate the hard work that you and everybody else has put into shedding light on what's going on in your community there.'
The hearing was one-sided in favor of the factory's opponents.
The Michigan Economic Development Corp. will testify in support of the project and answer legislators' questions at a second hearing next week, Carra said. He publicly called on James Durian, CEO of the Marshall Area Economic Development Alliance, to be there, too, alleging that Durian had been unresponsive to requests to testify.
In a letter to Carra and other subcommittee members released later on June 4, Durian said he will not attend the meeting. He highlighted the plant's benefits, saying more than 1,500 construction workers are at the site daily and it will eventually have 1,700 long-term, high-paid workers.
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'It's important this project stays on track so we can continue to experience the economic boost already being felt as our small businesses, shops and restaurants see an uptick in foot traffic,' he wrote. 'This kind of economic growth is hugely important for our region, which has seen population decline and job losses over the past 20 years. Ford BlueOval Battery Park Michigan is helping us reverse that trend.'
MAEDA noted that more than 100 Marshall-area business owners, school leaders, elected officials and other community stakeholders sent a letter to Michigan's congressional delegation last week backing the plant and urging the tax credit's preservation.
A House-passed tax plan would end the credit and restrict the use of Chinese components and technology. The bill is now in the Senate.
'The economic impact of this investment on this region cannot be overstated,' the letter stated.
MEDC spokesperson Otie McKinley said the agency 'continues to support Ford and their investment plans that will help Michigan secure our position as the global leader in mobility and highly advanced manufacturing.'
In the hearing, however, critics told lawmakers their voices were ignored, blaming many factors including that key state and local elected officials signed non-disclosure agreements preventing them from gauging the community's interest in such a project.
'There are so many reasons that the residents didn't want this factory in our small town of 7,000 people,' said Bryant, who administers the Stop the CPP Ford Marshall Megasite group on Facebook. 'This is a national security issue. This is a corporate welfare issue. This is a huge environmental issue.'
Rep. Dylan Wegela, D-Garden City, expressed concern that a 'dark money'-backed advertising campaign — one that the Detroit Free Press has tied to Democrats and allies of Whitmer — made it harder to fight the plan.
Carra, like Wegela, opposes economic development subsidies for businesses generally — though other legislators in both parties have backed them over time.
Carra said the federal government should 'look very closely' at the BlueOval Battery Park and Gotion Inc.'s $2.4 billion EV battery plant near Big Rapids and see that 'communities don't want these things.' Ford's comments, he said, 'are indicative that this is abundantly dependent on taxpayers' dollars, that people are not buying this product (EVs) near at the demand that is being supplied by government. Continuing to shed light on this is I think of importance.'
Ford told reporters after a panel discussion at the Mackinac Policy Conference that it is fine for politicians to agree or disagree on things like production tax credits.
'But don't change the rules once you've already made the investment, because that to me is just a question of fairness, and that's unfair,' he said.
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