The site of Ford Motor Co.’s expansive BlueOval electric-vehicle battery plant in Marshall is hyped to play a key role in efforts to fight climate change, but recent citations for soil runoff into the Kalamazoo River is prompting environmental concerns.

For more than a year, the Kalamazoo River Watershed Council has raised concerns about construction at the 1.8 million-square-foot facility that has also faced a lawsuit from locals attempting to halt the development, The Detroit News reports.

The council sent a letter to Ford Executive Chair William Clay Ford in April 2023 urging the company to “place a high priority during the design and implementation of the BlueOval Battery Park on minimizing impacts to the Kalamazoo River and all surface and groundwater resources in the surrounding region, especially considering the proximity of site to the Kalamazoo River and Bear Creek, which is a trout stream.”

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Photographs and drone footage detailing “a significant release of sediment to the Kalamazoo River” on June 17 detailed in a violation notice from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy illustrates why.

The photographs, submitted to the state by paddlers on the river, showed clouded water with suspended material flowing into the river from the construction site, prompting inspections from EGLE that led to a violation notice on July 16.

The notice outlined several problems that contributed to the sediment runoff from heavy rain on June 17, 18, 29 and July 10.

“EGLE inspectors said the site didn’t have some necessary protections against sedimentation during heavy rainstorms. They described areas without enough vegetation, a partially unfinished storm water drainage system, ineffective soil erosion control measures, improperly installed silt fencing and other issues that caused the runoff, which violated the state environmental protection las and construction codes,” EGLE told The News. “Construction logs also lacked required detail and failed to describe some of the runoff, the department said.”

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The violation notice was issued to the Marshall Area Economic Development Alliance that owns the property and is in the process of transferring ownership of Ford’s 500-acre portion to the company.

“We are working closely with Calhoun County and (EGLE) to improve upon the approved soil erosion control plan,” MAEDA CEO James Durian said. “In addition, our construction team has taken numerous engineering steps, including the installation of improved and expanded erosion control measures to help further reduce the risk of future discharges.”

Kalamazoo River Watershed Council Executive Director Doug McLaughlin told The News the debacle speaks poorly to Ford’s commitment to protecting the environment.

“There’s legitimate concern for how the site, which is very large and immediately adjacent to the river, is going to be managed from a point of view of protecting the river from all kinds of things, including storm water during construction and storm water coming from the site after construction is done, and managing potential chemical emergencies when raw materials are brought to the site,” McLaughlin said.

While the council isn’t among Marshall residents who oppose the battery plant, McLaughlin believes Ford should do more to protect the river.

“The fact that we’ve asked and helped elevate concern about losses during construction, sediment losses during construction, and now there’s a violation that’s related to sediment losses during construction, that’s an indicator” that Ford is inadequately protecting the river, McLaughlin said. “That’s not the only one that we’ve seen… We haven’t been happy with the level of response from Ford.”

Incoming Marshall Township treasurer Glenn Kowalske, who helped spawn ongoing litigation to cancel the plant, also expressed concerns about oversight.

“If we’re getting more of these (major rainstorms),” he said, “is the design adequate, or is it going to release something we don’t want into the river?”

Ford referred questions from The News about the violation to MAEDA, but spokeswoman Jessica Enoch insisted “protecting the Kalamazoo River is a priority.”

“Ford is utilizing its more than 120 years of manufacturing knowledge to ensure this facility will incorporate proven environmental safeguards, designs, structures and construction specifications to carefully control materials used in the manufacturing process and prevent them from having any contact with storm water runoff or nearby natural water bodies and soil.”

EGLE, meanwhile, continues to monitor the situation.

“We are working with the permittee to ensure they comply with permit conditions for soil erosion and sediment control to be protective of the wetlands and river,” spokesman Jeff Johnston told The News. “Any environmental harm has not been determined but this is not the only source of sediment entering the river in a rain event.

“Our primary objective is that the owner return to compliance, and our compliance and enforcement program is progressive.”

The violations follow Ford’s decision to shave $1 billion off the planned $3.5 billion BlueOval battery park amid waning interest in EVs. The move prompted the state to reduce more than $1 billion in taxpayer subsidies for the project by 60%. The change slashed projected jobs from 2,500 to 1,700.

That decision came ahead of a first quarter 2024 earnings report showed Ford sold 10,000 electric vehicles at a loss of $132,000 each. Earlier this month, Ford announced it will delay plans to spend $1.8 billion to transform its Oakville, Ontario assembly plant into an electric vehicle manufacturing hub.

Instead, the company said it will use the facility to expand production of its gas-powered Super Duty trucks.

The EGLE violations and pending lawsuit also aren’t the only problems to plague Ford’s BlueOval park. State and federal lawmakers have raised serious concerns about the company’s plan to partner with the Chinese company CATL, which has ties to the Chinese Communist Party and slave labor in the supply chain.

There’s also been vandalism.

Michigan State Police told WWMT vandals targeted construction equipment at the Calhoun County site last weekend, spray-painting “Ford sucks” on equipment along Verona Road and 14 Mile Road.

Investigators told the news site the equipment was not owned by Ford, and the graffiti is the latest in a series of vandalism incidents at construction sites in the area.

“It is vandalism, it is costly, and those that are responsible, just know that you could face some serious penalties and fines and costs, as well as jail time for this type of behavior,” MSP Special Lt. DuWayne Robinson said.