Important Takeaways:
- Feds decline review of Chinese battery plant plans in Big Rapids, company says
- Federal regulators have concluded they don’t have the proper jurisdiction to conduct a review of a planned $2.4 billion Chinese battery part manufacturing plant in the Big Rapids area, the company said in a Tuesday statement in which they committed to moving forward with the project.
- The U.S. Treasury Department, according to the statement, told Gotion Inc. that the company’s purchase of land in the Big Rapids area is “not a covered real estate transaction and is not a covered transaction under the Defense Production Act of 1950.”
- CFIUS, which reviews foreign investments for national security risks, has repeatedly declined comment when asked to confirm whether a request was made for a review of the Big Rapids project. The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
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Important Takeaways:
- Opposition grows to proposed Chinese battery plant subsidized by taxpayers
- Opposition is building against a proposed Chinese battery plant for Manteno in Kankakee County.
- Gotion Incorporated, with reported ties to the Chinese Communist Party, is set to receive more than $7 billion in federal tax credits, and over $500 million in subsidies from Illinois.
- During a news conference Monday in Manteno, State Rep. Brad Halbrook, R-Shelbyville, said the tax incentives don’t add up.
- “The total subsidies for the plant calculate to an astounding $3 million for each job created,” Halbrook said. “Why are U.S. taxpayers providing $8 billion in economic incentives for the construction of a plant that costs $2 billion to build?”
- The plant will produce battery cells and battery packs designed to be used in electric vehicles and large-scale energy storage systems.
- J.B. Pritzker has called the agreement “the most significant new manufacturing investment in Illinois in decades.”
- Former Congressman and U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra chaired the House Intelligence Committee. He is also involved with the opposition to the Michigan plant.
- “History lesson number one, China is our enemy, they are not a competitor,” Hoekstra said. “They seek to destroy us and our communities.”
- The proposed plant, which state officials said will create 2,600 jobs, is slated to begin production in 2024.
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