Green Charter Township wants the federal government to review Gotion and its plans to build a multi-billion battery component plant using $715 million from Michigan taxpayers.

“I am requesting approval to work with our legal counsel and other interested municipalities to develop a request for a full (Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States) review,” Supervisor Jason Kruse said at the township board meeting last week. “It has never been done, and I want to close that loop. It is not going to cost anything to make that happen.”

The board voted unanimously to authorize Kruse to pursue the plan with others involved in the Gotion deal and report back to the board at a future meeting, according to the Big Rapids Pioneer.

The Committee on Foreign Investment is tasked with protecting U.S. national security by reviewing transactions that could lead to foreign control of U.S. businesses or foreign investments in critical technologies, infrastructure, or sensitive data. With a CFIUS recommendation, President Donald Trump can suspend or prohibit transactions that pose a threat to national security.

“The Gotion plant would be very bad for the State and our Country. It would put Michiganders under the thumb of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing,” Trump posted to Truth Social in August.

The vote to explore CFIUS review follows confirmation from Gotion CEO Chuck Thelen in late March the company has halted its environmental studies and permitting process through the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy as its legal battle with the township drags into year two.

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.

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The agreement, 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 it 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 deal over concerns about Gotion’s close ties to the Chinese Communist Party and environmental impacts.

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.

The township has since appealed that decision to the U.S. Six Circuit Court of Appeals, as Michigan Republican Congressman John 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.

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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 recent statement. “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.

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.”

While Moolenaar champions legislation to block Gotion from receiving federal tax credits and the Department of Homeland Security from relying on foreign made batteries from Gotion and others, Republicans in Michigan are looking to cover the legal bills for Green Charter Township’s fight against the company.

State Rep. Tom Kunse, R-Clare, recently submitted an appropriations request for $275,000 to cover the legal expenses he said stemmed from state officials ignoring the will of locals, according to the Manistee News Advocate.

“The state of Michigan forced Green Charter Township into a position that the majority of the residents oppose,” Kunse said in his request for funding. “The actions by the state left the township with no choice but to take legal action to protect their community. As a result, the township has been burdened with legal fees and costs that were incurred only because of the state’s actions. It is fair that the state of Michigan takes responsibility and helps cover these expenses.”