House panel OKs another $120M for Ford's Marshall battery plan

Lansing — A Michigan House panel on Tuesday voted to give another $120 million toward a Ford Motor Co. battery plant project in the Marshall area, an allocation meant to help prepare the site for the planned $3.5 billion development.

In all, the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday transferred $370 million from Michigan Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve fund to the Strategic Site Readiness Program, including about $120.3 million for Ford's Blue Oval Battery Park project. The $120 million was allocated to the Marshall Area Economic Development Alliance to prepare the property for the electric vehicle battery project.

"This state investment would support land acquisition, site preparation, water and wastewater upgrades, and other necessary public infrastructure improvements at the strategic Marshall megasite," the transfer request said.

The additional $250 million also goes to strategic site readiness but without a specific location outlined. The Michigan Strategic Fund board will ultimately decide the allocation of those funds, which are divvied up among local, regional and state grants for strategic sites with no identified end user.

The $120.3 million Strategic Site Readiness Program grant for the Ford land, which passed House Appropriations Tuesday in a 18-11 vote, is the last installment of hundreds of millions of dollars the Legislature appropriated to the Marshall megasite for land acquisition and preparation at the Marshall site. It came two days after former President Donald Trump warned at a Sunday Oakland County Republican fundraiser that the push to promote electric vehicles in Michigan would mean the "decimation" of the state's auto industry.

Ford's total in incentives for the $3.5 billion project amount to about $1.6 billion in state and local taxpayer aid once local and state tax incentives are taken into consideration.

Included in direct dollars from the state for site readiness is $120.3 million in strategic site readiness funding, $330 million allocated directly to the transportation department for road improvements and $299.7 million went directly through the Michigan Strategic Fund for site readiness, according to Terri Fitzpatrick, chief real estate and global attraction officer for the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. Another $210 million was transferred by the Legislature earlier this year for a direct appropriation to Ford through the Critical Industry Program.

Ford officials announced in February that they expected to invest $3.5 billion to construct the Blue Oval Battery Park Michigan in Marshall through a wholly owned subsidiary for Ford.

The plant will employ 2,500 people with pay ranging from $20 to $50 an hour, with average annual wages coming in at $45,000.

Under the deal, Ford will license battery technology from Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd., or CATL, the world's leading LFP battery maker, but CATL will not receive tax incentives. The involvement of a Chinese-owned CATL in the project has raised concerns among Republican lawmakers objecting to the company benefiting from the Ford deal.

eleblanc@detroitnews.com