BIG RAPIDS, Mich. — A 270-acre plot of land in rural Mecosta County has become a focal point in the campaign trail, as politicians are now constantly trading barbs over the planned Gotion battery plant.
The plant, set to break ground soon in Green Township, has sparked intense debate among politicians and locals alike.
"I've never seen something that divides a community like this," said Mike Rogers, GOP Senate nominee, during a rally against the plant on Aug. 21.
Mecosta
Mike Rogers visits Big Rapids, condemns planned Gotion battery plant
Rogers expressed concerns about the plant's alleged Chinese Communist Party affiliations, telling a crowd, "We're not going to take a Chinese company with Chinese interests, taking American jobs in our community."
Just a week later, on Aug. 27, VP hopeful JD Vance visited the same location where Roger held his rally: Majestic Friesians Horse Farm, owned by Lori Brock.
“No CCP [Chinese Communist Party],” a sign on her property reads. “We will not be silenced!”
Vance told a crowd of roughly a thousand people on Tuesday, "We stand very close to the Gotion factory, right?"
He also criticized the plant's alleged ties to the Chinese government, stating, "Kamala not only wants to allow Chinese communist companies to build factories on our soil, she wants to pay them to do it with our tax dollars."
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Republicans aren’t the only ones fielding questions about Gotion’s plans here in West Michigan.
Hillary Scholten told media on Tuesday, just prior to Vance speaking in Big Rapids, "Just because we've got some ties to China doesn't mean we should prevent good-paying jobs coming right here to west Michigan."
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The Michigan Economic Development Corporation and Governor Whitmer announced hundreds of millions in support for Gotion, a subsidiary of Gotion Hi-Tech out of Hefei, China, in October 2022.
The company is set to receive significant grants and tax breaks, including a $125 million Critical Industry Program performance-based grant and a $50 million Strategic Site Readiness Program grant.
They will also receive "Renaissance Zone" designations on the property at the state and local level, significantly limiting any taxes the company will have to pay over the next several decades.
Some politicians, including Michigan Congressman John Moolenaar, have raised concerns about Gotion's parent company's ties to human rights violations in China; others argue that the project has the necessary oversight.
Scholten said Tuesday, "We've got the oversight that we need, and we're advancing always first and foremost American competitiveness."
In early June, Moolenar and others in Congress wrote a letter to Robert Silvers at the Department of Homeland Security to request that the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force place Gotion on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List.
“Newly discovered information indicates that Gotion maintains extensive business relationships in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) and in other provinces or regions in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) with companies directly linked to forced labor and involved in the ongoing genocide of Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic groups,” the letter reads in part.
Despite the opposition, the current Green Township Board was recently ordered by a judge to stop blocking any of Gotion's development efforts moving forward.
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