State says accessing 45,891 Gotion documents will cost $16,500
(The Center Square) – The Michigan Economic Development Corporation told The Center Square it would charge $16,537 for more than 45,000 pages of documents about the planned Gotion plant in Mecosta County.
A Freedom of Information Act request from The Center Square fielded a response for 45,891 pages of possible related documents, which the MEDC estimated would take 406 hours to extract from its records.
For the lowest-paid MEDC staff, the request includes $11,948 for searching costs at $29.43 hourly. Copying costs alone would total $4,589.
The Center Square is seeking documents related to the Gotion plant, which has received millions of dollars in state subsidies as well as substantial tax abatements.
A Sept. 23 letter from the MEDC offered Gotion up to $1.14 billion in subsidies counting state, local and utility incentives.
Those tax breaks include a $125 million Critical Industry Program grant for a local job creation requirement; a 30-year Renaissance Zone to Mecosta County valued at $540 million; and a $50 million Strategic Site Readiness Program performance-based grant.
The Center Square FOIA request seeks environmental and economic details about the plant that has become a flashpoint for residents statewide.
Some oppose the 30-year tax breaks offered to the company, while others worry about Gotion’s connection to the Chinese Communist Party. Gotion insists that it isn’t controlled by the CCP.
The Center Square previously reported former U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra has been expressing doubts about Chinese Communist Party influence over Gotion. Additionally, current U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar has stated he opposes the project as “wrong for our state.”
The latest controversy comes after Gotion doubled down on its facility near Green Charter Township after Big Rapids township requested a federal investigation about national security risks tied to the plant.
Nondisclosure agreements also stymie reporting on this project.
The Center Square plans to reduce the scope of the request to receive a more feasible bill.
Last week, lawmakers approved a $175 million transfer for the battery component factory expected to create 2,350 jobs. Sen. Lana Theis, R-Brighton, voted against the transfer.
“Gotion is being paid to come here, will pay nothing in return in terms of local taxes, and will not be responsible for cleaning up its potential environmental catastrophes,” Theis said in a post-vote statement. “The plant’s looming disaster is a risk too great to ignore and I worry Michigan will soon regret its decision.”
Theis raised environmental concerns about the plant’s proximity to the Muskegon River.
“The Gotion plant is set to be built near the Muskegon River — the plan has yet to receive the environmental impact study and/or approval necessary for such a project,” Theis said in a statement. “Neither Gotion nor economic development officials have addressed any questions or concerns about its plans for this plant or track record on existing plants in terms of environmental impact. We don’t know how much water it will use, whether it would be recycled before being dumped back into state waterways, how much energy would be consumed, or how it could mitigate, contain and expunge a fire. We also don’t know how or if the company plans to secure the transportation of the highly volatile materials that go into making vehicle batteries, which are highly combustible and toxic.”
