BIG RAPIDS, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – News about the Big Rapids Gotion megasite has been relatively quiet lately after six township officials were recalled over their support of the Chinese-linked battery plant in November of 2023.

However, the $2.36 billion site, which is partially funded by Michigan taxpayer dollars, is coming under fire for their plans to cut down trees at the end of the month before they get the required environmental permits.

Who is EDRA and what are they asking for?

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 That accusation comes from EDRA (the Economic Development Responsibility Alliance of Michigan). The organization is a grassroots coalition of residential stewards that was formed to stop corrupt deals by taxpayer funded economic development corporations and to stop regulatory agencies from destroying Michigan’s communities, wild spaces and water.

EDRA founder Marjorie Steele sent out a letter on Tuesday to Debra Shore, Regional Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region 5, key EPA department heads, and EGLE department heads to request that the EPA does their job to oversee the megasite project.

EGLE, Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, is tasked with protecting Michigan’s environment and public health by managing air, water, land, and energy resources and they have a hand in regulating the Gotion project as well.

EPA requested to do due diligence and enforce federal oversight of Gotion site.

In Steele’s letter to Shore, she insists, on behalf of members of the Mecosta County and Muskegon River watershed communities, that the EPA performs their “legal due diligence” and enforces “federal oversight of Gotion by designating the project as a ‘Red File’ and taking appropriate action to oversee the project.”

A “Red File” project, according to EGLE, is one that federal agencies must review when it impacts critical environmental areas or involves major discharges.

Why a “red file” designation is needed.

Red File projects are identified in a Memorandum of Agreement between the EPA and EGLE. They pertain to projects that include: having the potential to affect endangered or threatened species as determined by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (including the Karner Blue Butterfly and the Bald Eagle); involve major discharges affecting one or more acre of wetland; and have discharges to waters…suspected to contain toxic pollutants or hazardous substances, located in proximity of
a public water supply intake (unconfined aquifers and Muskegon River watershed).

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The letter to the EPA starts out by saying, “As you are aware, neighbors to the proposed Gotion EV battery factory in Mecosta County, Michigan, have been expressing environmental concerns and asking for enforcement of federal oversight since summer of 2023.”

EDRA contends that Gotion hasn’t applied for any environmental permits through state or local agencies.

The letter continues, “To date, Gotion has applied for no environmental permits through EGLE, no soil erosion permits through the county, and has presented no site plan to local or state agencies. Yet Gotion is preparing to log the site before the end of the month. This environmental situation is about to come to a head. We, as representatives of the local community, ask once more, urgently, that EPA Region 5’s offices take action on the federal oversight required of this development, before violations occur.”

The letter cites the American Bar Association as saying about such oversight, “Development projects that constitute major federal action, as defined by law, including those that use federal land, federal tax dollars, or are under federal agency jurisdiction, are required to assess the impact of a proposed project on the physical, cultural, and human environments affected by the proposed project.”

Criteria that puts Gotion site under federal agency jurisdiction.

EDRA points out that a number of criteria places the Gotion project under federal agency jurisdiction including: the Clean Water Act’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) which regulates the permitting of pollutant discharge for industrial facilities; the Clean Air Act’s National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which regulates permitting of airborne contaminants; and Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, which regulates permitting of development on wetlands and streams. EDRA adds that under Section 404, the EPA holds the ultimate authority on whether or not EGLE may issue a permit.

In their letter, EDRA reminds everyone that Gotion’s own consulting firm, in October of 2022, “delineated over 60 acres of wetlands within the reviewed 257 acres, the majority of which are protected under Part 303 of the State’s Wetlands Protection, under the National Resources and Environmental Protection Act (NREPA).”

The letter also claims that the proposed site qualifies under Part 303 due to its proximity to the historic cold water transitional stream, Dalziel Creek, a near tributary to the Muskegon River. Steele says, “EGLE’s dredge and fill permits for Part 303 areas explicitly require permits to be issued before activity can begin, by state law.”

Logging of site scheduled without environmental due diligence.

At the end of Steele’s letter, she says, “Gotion has failed to perform any and all environmental due diligence to date, yet they intend to remove trees within the 270 acres they’ve purchased within upcoming weeks. This is a $2.4B project, using over $715M in taxpayer funding. More critically: it proposes to take 715,000 gallons of water from local aquifers and produce 65,000 gallons of wastewater per day. It’s clear that federal oversight is both needed and legally required.”

Steele concludes, “What is at stake, here, is nothing short of the health of the entire Muskegon River watershed, the Saginaw aquifer, and the ecosystems and residents which depend on them…We look forward to your swift action on this critical, high-impact environmental issue.”

Michigan News Source reached out to spokesperson and VP of Gotion Inc. – Northern American Manufacturing, Chuck Thelen, for his response to the letter but he did not return our request for comment.