Lawsuit to derail Ford EV battery site dismissed

A Calhoun County judge again dismissed a lawsuit from Marshall-area residents who sought to change or potentially derail a planned massive Ford development in the area.

But residents who oppose the creation of the large electric vehicle battery plant about 100 miles west of Detroit say they plan to appeal the decision.

Circuit Judge William Marietti filed his opinion Wednesday, ruling in favor of both the Marshall city clerk and a local economic development organization called the Marshall Area Economic Development Alliance.

An organization called Committee for Marshall − Not the Megasite originally filed the lawsuit last year, arguing the city and the city clerk inappropriately nixed their efforts to have voters formally weigh in on a local regulatory decision that largely paved the way for the promised Ford plant.

Marietti dismissed the original lawsuit in the fall, but residents filed an updated version. The judge relied on the same concepts to reject most of the new lawsuit, finding the additional arguments were not persuasive.

“This ruling is a major win for local jobs, local small businesses and the entire Marshall community,” said Jim Durian, head of the local economic development organization, in a statement.

Regis Klingler, a spokesman for the committee that opposes the site, said the committee plans to appeal.

“We’re not giving up. We think we have some good grounds for appeal,” Klingler said in a phone interview Wednesday afternoon. “It’s not finished.”

The final plans for the site are far from complete. Although Ford initially promised 2,500 new jobs and a $3.5 billion investment when announcing the project, it instituted a two-month pause on its own work at the Marshall site amid the UAW strike.

It ultimately decided to trim the plans by 800 jobs and more than $1 billion invested, moves that reduce the plant’s production capacity by roughly 40%.

Michigan originally was slated to provide roughly $1.8 billion in public incentives for the project, but the state economic development agency expects to reduce that number, given the change in the project’s scope.

Otie McKinley, a spokesman for the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, said in late December the new incentive amount would not be known until Ford provided final project details to the state.