BIG RAPIDS, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – A project involving a Chinese company, Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), and hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer money has officially sunk.

Gotion, a Chinese-based company bolstered by taxpayer incentives to build an electric vehicle battery plant in Big Rapids, failed to hit the benchmarks necessary to secure the $125 million Critical Industry Program grant.

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A Sept. 17 letter to from MSF Fund Manager Matt Casby to Gotion Global Vice President Chuck Thelen stated Gotion had defaulted on its responsibilities to secure the $125 million grant. The company had 30 days to comply, which has now passed. That money has since been clawed back.

What remains is the $24 million mortgage held by the MEDC. Rep. Tom Kunse (R-Clare) told Michigan News Source he “wouldn’t be surprised if litigation” follows.

“Everything that was spent on property and infrastructure has already been clawed back,” Rep. Kunse said. That refers to the $125 million grant money along with $50 million sent to the local chapter of the MEDC, The Right Place.

However, Gotion’s demise highlights a bigger problem with Michigan megasites. Those projects served as a main pillar of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s second term in office and now she has little to show for it. Gotion is done, an unnamed megasite in Clinton County was pulled, things are up in the air for BlueOval in Marshall, and a third company pulled out of a megasite project in Genesee County’s Mundy Township recently.

Rep. Kunse made a distinction between the government and the private sector. “The government should not pick winners and losers [because] it doesn’t work,” he said. “We can’t put a finger on scale of the free market. The market always wins.”

Michigan News Source asked if the MEDC should be disbanded, and Kunse argued for revamping it instead. He said “No one can point to a success story” when it comes to the government meddling in business. “We need more transparency than we have now.”

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In the meantime, Rep. Kunse said he hopes a U.S. company will step in where Gotion failed. When that happens, he said the “community can start to heal.”