GREEN CHARTER TOWNSHIP, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – After years of controversy, lawsuits and political battles, the proposed Gotion electric vehicle battery plant in Mecosta County is heading toward a legal conclusion. And the current price tag for settling one federal claim? One dollar.

Township Approves Settlement

The Green Charter Township Board of Trustees approved a proposed settlement agreement on Thursday, October 15 during a special meeting, potentially ending litigation involving Gotion Inc. and its controversial battery plant project.

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According to the Big Rapids Pioneer, the agreement requires Gotion to transfer the proposed project property to the Michigan State Land Bank. The Michigan Strategic Fund would also drop its demand against Gotion involving grant funds.

The township would refund certain project-related funds and remove some public statements concerning Gotion, the litigation, and economic development organization The Right Place.

One Dollar and Done?

Under the agreement, Gotion would receive a consent judgment on one federal claim with just $1 in damages. All remaining claims would be dismissed with prejudice, preventing them from being refiled.

The parties would also terminate project agreements and release claims against one another related to the dispute.

Township attorney Kyle O’Meara said the agreement follows negotiations culminating in an October 2 settlement conference before a federal magistrate judge.

Although the township has approved the terms, final paperwork may still require additional board approval.

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For residents who fought the controversial project, the proposed settlement signals that the long-running battle over the battery plant is finally moving toward a conclusion.

Joseph Cella, director and co-founder of the Michigan China Economic Security and Review Group, who has been a vocal opponent of the Gotion battery plant project, called the agreement between government officials and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-linked company corrupt from the beginning.

He said in a statement to Michigan News Source, “It moved fast and in secret and it ruptured the consent of the governed,” He accused officials of failing to conduct proper due diligence and ignoring national security concerns, describing the project as having “all of the textbook markings of a subnational incursion and influence operation by a CCP-tied entity.”

Cella credited local residents for defeating the project, saying it would not have happened without the patriots of Mecosta County who “courageously stood up, exposed it, tenaciously fought it, and ultimately restored the consent of the governed.”