MECOSTA COUNTY, Mich. — The Gotion Inc. plant that will aid in the production of electric vehicle batteries is now moving forward.
On Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved $175 million dollars to go towards the plant.
Green Charter Township Supervisor Jim Chapman believes that the project is the "Opportunity of a Generation".
Chapman's board voted unanimously to support Gotion in December.
"For every one of those jobs, another two-and-a-half jobs will be created within the community of the region," said Chapman. "We're talking another 5,000 jobs, plus or minus. The effect to the entire west side of the state of Michigan is off the scale."
Gotion has promised to create more than 2,000 jobs in the area over the span of eight to ten years. Some jobs, paying around $29 an hour.
Many who are against it are concerned about the company's ties to the Chinese Communist Party, which Gotion Inc. has previously denied.
Brock owns 150 acres of farmland across the street from the proposed plant.
"We have a trout stream right there," said Brock. "We have Eagles, we have osprey. It's just a nature lover's paradise where we're at. And they literally are trying to rezone hundreds and hundreds of acres of agricultural land."
Supervisor Chapman compared the controversy to Ice Mountain water that built a plant near the township.
"Change is scary," said Chapman. "There was pushback for Ice Mountain, there was pushback for Haworth. There's a real nice story out there that we haven't got time for to talk about. The pushback received by a gentleman by the name of Woodbridge Ferris when he came to Big Rapids wanting to start a new school 1984. That's inevitable change is scary and we've got to work with it."
Although the funding has been approved, Brock said they're going to continue to fight to keep the company out.
"We were kind of bummed," said Brock. "I can't lie. But to be honest, we kind of expected it with Governor Whitmer pushing this so hard. I think we did better than expected, actually. You know, like I said, it's disappointing because we're hoping people care about us. And a lot of people have turned a blind eye to this and they're letting it continue. But it's okay, we've got a lot more things we're gonna do. And we're not giving up by any means."
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