Livingston Today

State Representative Ann Bollin has reiterated her call for Michigan to retract the $1.8 billion in taxpayer subsidies allocated to Ford for its BlueOval electric vehicle battery plant in Marshall. This comes after the U.S. Department of Defense included CATL, a Chinese battery manufacturer partnering with Ford on the project, on its 1260H list. The list identifies firms operating in the U.S. that contribute to China's military buildup or work on behalf of its military. Companies on this list are prohibited from entering into Defense Department contracts.

"The Defense Department’s decision to blacklist CATL should serve as yet another wake-up call," said Bollin. "Michigan taxpayers should not be footing the bill for a project tied to a company that raises serious national security concerns."

Bollin has consistently voiced concerns about transparency and safeguards in Michigan's economic development incentives management. After Ford initially paused the BlueOval project before proceeding with a scaled-down version, Bollin introduced measures aimed at ensuring greater accountability for projects funded through the Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve (SOAR) fund, which subsidized the Marshall plant.

Her efforts include a $725.3 million negative supplemental appropriations plan intended to return previously allocated SOAR funds and related infrastructure funding for the Marshall project back to Michigan's general fund, legislation mandating annual audits of the SOAR fund, and proposals establishing automatic claw-back provisions requiring unspent funds to revert to the general fund if a project is canceled or indefinitely paused.

"These new revelations about CATL prove that my concerns were well-founded," Bollin stated. "We cannot allow Michigan’s economic future to be entangled with entities that threaten our national security."