(The Center Square) – Opponents of a Chinese battery plant planned for Manteno are not letting up on their efforts to block the project.
Residents packed a Manteno community center Thursday for a roundtable discussion on Gotion’s plans to set up shop in Illinois.
Armed with a $530 million tax incentive package, Gotion plans to make EV batteries at an old K-Mart distribution center building. The chairman of Gotion’s parent company said that the group was drawn to Illinois because of “an enabling business environment” and a “supportive state government.”
Gotion also worked out a deal with Kankakee County to cap the taxes paid on the property at $2 million per year for the next 30 years.
Congressman Darin LaHood, IL-16, who hosted the meeting, said he has introduced legislation called the “No Gotion Act.”
“A bill that would prohibit companies affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party from being able to receive any federal energy tax credits that came out of the Biden and Harris Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act,” said LaHood.
LaHood wrote a letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security accusing Gotion of having ties with companies directly linked to slave labor.
State Rep. Dan Caulkins, R-Decatur, said we should not be subsidizing our foreign competition and number one economic and military adversary.
“This is a bad deal for Illinois taxpayers,” said Caulkins. “Anything Congress can do to help us get this deal rescinded would be greatly appreciated. We shouldn’t be playing venture capitalists with taxpayer money.”
A planned Gotion plant in Michigan has also faced strong opposition.
