Gotion Inc’s taxpayer subsidized plans to build a battery component plant in Mecosta County are officially on hold, and Congressman John Moolenaar is urging the company to scrap them altogether.

On Friday, Gotion CEO Chuck Thelen confirmed the company halted its environmental studies and permitting process through the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy as its legal battle with Green Charter Township drags into year two.

“The EGLE permitting application is now on hold as we move through the legal process,” Thelen told the Big Rapids Pioneer.

Thelen previously told the media Gotion would continue to pursue permits for its planned $2.3 billion plant to build EV battery components, which came with $715 million in taxpayer incentives negotiated in secret by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration and select lawmakers.

The deal, inked in when Democrats held a government trifecta in 2022, was touted by Whitmer as “the biggest ever economic development project in Northern Michigan” with a promise of “2,350 good-paying jobs.”

While the deal was initially approved by Green Charter Township’s board in August 2023, voters recalled all members of the board over the support, installing new board members that immediately moved to kill the agreement.

The change prompted Gotion to file a lawsuit against the township for breach of the development agreement, and Judge Jane M. Beckering issued a preliminary injunction in May 2024 ordering the township to comply.

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The township has since appealed that decision to the U.S. Six Circuit Court of Appeals, as Moolenaar has worked to raise awareness about Gotion’s strong ties to the Chinese Communist Party uncovered through his role as chair of the House Select Committee on the CCP.

In January, a newly elected Mecosta County board of commissioners also pulled support for Gotion, citing “92% of … Mecosta County residents” who oppose the plant and “new information and developments” regarding Gotion’s direct ties to the CCP.

“The residents of Mecosta County have made it clear multiple times they do not support Gotion operating in their community,” Moolenar said in a statement on Saturday. “The company has continuously misled the public about its close ties to the CCP and refused to heed election results, instead deciding to sue a small town that doesn’t want it.

“Gotion’s announcement it is pausing its application process is good news, however, it should listen to the people of Mecosta County and end its plans in Michigan once and for all,” the congressman said.

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Moolenaar points to federal filings that admit Gotion is “wholly owned and controlled” by parent company Gotion High-Tech, and receives subsidies from the Chinese government.

Gotion High-Tech employes hundreds of CCP members and hosts field trips for those employees to pledge their lives to the CCP.

“Since the company announced its project in 2022, it has been discovered an executive at the company attends meetings of the parent company’s internal CCP committee,” according to Moolenaar. “Last year, an investigation conducted by the Select Committee on the CCP … found that Gotion’s supply chain is reliant on forced labor that is a part of the CCP’s ongoing genocide of Uyghur Muslims, a religious minority in China.”

Republicans in Lansing and Washington are also pushing back on Gotion’s plans, including President Donald Trump, who said in August he’s “100% OPPOSED.”

In January, Moolenaar reintroduced his NO GOTION Act after the same legislation failed to make it through the 118^th Congress.

“The NO GOTION Act is a commonsense, bipartisan measure that prohibits our adversaries from benefitting from the tax dollars of hardworking American families, and right now there is a loophole that allows (Inflation Reduction Act) tax credits to go to Chinese companies,” Moolenaar said. “The United States is in a competition with the CCP and under no circumstance should we be giving taxpayer money to Chinese companies.”

The same legislation was introduced by Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., in the upper chamber in February.

Earlier this month, Michigan House Republicans also introduced a 10-bill package to curb foreign influence from the CCP and countries of concern in the Great Lakes State.

That legislation would limit public contracts with countries of concern, ban foreign ownership of certain lands, and target other ways the CCP is leveraging its foothold in Michigan.

“There is no longer a welcome mat in Michigan for entities of foreign concern,” said state Rep. William Bruck, R-Erie, chair of a newly formed House Oversight Subcommittee on Homeland Security and Foreign Influence. “We’re taking that welcome mat and we’re throwing it in the trash.”