Kickstart: Battery plants and 'a big fear sandwich'

You know that things are not normal when an official for a $2.4 billion manufacturing project has to state that "there is no communist plot to make Big Rapids a center to spread communism" during a public panel discussion on the plans.

And yet that's the situation near Big Rapids, Mich., where Chuck Thelen, the North American vice president for Gotion Inc. — the U.S. subsidiary of China-based battery maker Gotion High-Tech Co. Ltd. — has had to defend its plans to build a plant that would employ more than 2,000 people making anode and cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles.

Ferris State University, with strong training and research opportunities in plastics engineering, injection molding and mold design, would be nearby, providing a "once-in-a-century" opportunity, officials there said in October.

And yet an April 5 meeting in Green Township had to take place virtually due to security concerns, with Township Supervisor Jim Chapman telling our sister paper Crain's Detroit Business he had received death threats.

Gotion isn't alone. Ford Motor Co. and China-based Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL) are taking heat for a planned 2,500-job, $3.5 billion battery plant in Marshall, Mich.

Despite the furor, both projects are slated to move forward, with Gotion expecting to begin construction in July.

"Over the past few months, we've been force fed a big fear sandwich," Thelen told Crain's Detroit.

East Palestine, Ohio, remains in the news as the cleanup continues from a derailment in February that led to the release of vinyl chloride monomer, a PVC feedstock.

This time, however, the news isn't because of a cleanup at the derailment site, but rather a few miles away on April 10 a truck hauling 40,000 pounds of contaminated soil overturned, spilling about half the load along a county road a little north of East Palestine, PN's Frank Esposito writes.

The 74-year-old driver suffered minor injuries and police closed the roadway to clean up the spilled soil.

On the same day, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine was in East Palestine to open a permanent health clinic in the town. The site run by East Liverpool City Hospital replaces a temporary Health Assessment Clinic that opened Feb. 21 in response to citizens' health concerns.

"Because many in the East Palestine community do not have primary care providers, the state is providing funding to ensure the clinic remains available and free for those without insurance coverage," DeWine's office said.

It seems bio-based plastics are everywhere right now, from molded parts to White House public policy discussions — check out Steve Toloken's take during the April 10 Plastics in Politics webinar for the latest — and, next week, on Wall Street.

Georgia-based PHA maker Danimer Scientific Inc. CEO Stephen Croskrey will ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange on April 17 to mark the start of Earth Week.

Also, watch for more information soon about Plastics News' upcoming Bioplastics Live special editorial webinar on May 17.