GREEN CHARTER TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Gotion's Chuck Thelen spoke up during public comment at Tuesday's Green Charter Township board meeting.
During his time, the vice president of North American operations did a demonstration to show the product their plant will be producing. It's a powder called lithium iron phosphate. It's what will go into their battery cathodes for electric vehicle batteries.
"If you get it in your eyes, get it out of there and see a physician," said Thelen, talking about the powder. "If you get it on your skin wash it off. If you get in your mouth, drink plenty of water."
Toward the end of his time, Thelen dipped his finger into the jar of powder, which he said is the official final product, and ate it.
"This is my finger, and this is how non-toxic this material is," said Thelen just before eating the product.
Thelen said he talked to those in the battery industry about the demonstration beforehand.
"It's tasteless, odorless, and of course I consulted all of my industry experts and they said I would have no issue."
We wanted to check the claims made that lithium ion phosphate is non-toxic. According to an article in the National Library of Medicine, the product has "drawn a vast amount of interest in terms of application in reversible lithium batteries." The article goes on to say that it's due to:
In the past, those against the plant—which would bring over 2,000 jobs to Mecosta County and could break ground by this summer—were concerned about the company's involvement with the Chinese Communist Party, and the environmental effects it would have to the surrounding areas, including the Muskegon River.
All issues, once again brought up Tuesday night. One commenter even disputed Thelen's claims.
"It is not non-toxic. They are hazardous," said the public commenter. "This facility will create liquid and solid hazardous waste."
"We know that Gotion is connected with China, even though we've been told they're not," said another.
Thelen has denied both claims in the past.
"In any plant atmosphere, you have to have proper control measures," said Thelen. "We will employ those control measures. If for some reason there's a spill or a truck turns or something like that, I just wanted to demonstrate that it's not toxic, it's not going to kill every fish in the river."
Still, there's some that are unmoved by Thelen's words.
"The people you heard that were very boisterous tonight have been very boisterous for a very long time. They're not people you're going to convince this is a good idea," said Thelen.
"You said if the community didn't want you, you'd leave," said a public commenter who received applause from the crowd. "Why aren't you packing your bags?"
Court documents show that Gotion filed a lawsuit in Federal Court against Green Charter Township last month.
The lawsuit alleges Green Township failed to approve a water line for the project, which is stated as being a violation of the development agreement.
In response, the Mecosta Environmental Security Alliance (MESA) stated the original agreement under the previous township board was reached without a public meeting, making it a violation of the Opening Meetings Act.
Due to this, the MESA said the lawsuit is not legitimate.
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