MARSHALL, Mich. — A group of people who live in Marshall continues to push back against the Ford Motor Company electric vehicle battery plant that is coming to the area.
They gathered across from Marshall’s city hall Wednesday, holding signs that read "STOP THE MEGA SITE." Not only are they protesting the site, but also encouraging other community members to sign a petition that will make the rezoning of the plant a city-wide vote.
Earlier this month, Marshall's city council approved the request to rezone more than 700 acres of the site into an industrial and manufacturing zone. The ultimate goal is to turn the land into Ford's BlueOval Battery Park.
FOX 17 talked with Vicki McGuffin, a Michigan State University chemistry professor who lives in Marshall. She's worried the plant could cause more harm than good.
"We also have to think about the batteries themselves. So the lithium iron phosphate battery uses as its electrochemical couple, the lithium-ion and lithium metal. And the lithium-ion is actually a drug that's used to treat bipolar disorder. And so one has to question Do you really want that ultimately in your well water," McGuffin also added that lithium metal is very reactive when in contact with oxygen and can be a potential fire hazard.
Community members, including Maryjo Budrow, who live right along the river near the site, are worried about the impact it will have on their water.
"Out there we have well water so we’re concerned about polluting our well water. In town they have city water, they don’t worry about it," Budrow says she is not opposed to the plant, but she is opposed to the location.
The goal of the petition is to give residents like Budrow and McGuffin the option to at vote on what goes on in their community. Protest organizer Glen Kowalske feels community members should have a say.
"We put together a petition, which is within the city charter, to get ten percent of the city residents that are registered voters, to petition for a referendum so petition essentially, to allow the city of Marshall residents the right to vote on the ordinance," he said.
According to Kowalske, the petition has racked up well over 500 signatures. The goal is to have more than 800 by May 31.
Kowalske and many other residents feel that the mega-site goes against Marshall's historic and cultural values.
