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Michigan lawmakers ask $750 million for Ford battery plant site readiness

Justin Sullivan
/
Getty Images

Michigan officials are seeking another $750-million to support a planned Ford battery plant in Calhoun County.

The money would go toward infrastructure projects like roads, railways, and water to support the battery operation.

Michigan Economic Development Corporation CEO Quentin Messer Junior stresses none of that would go directly to Ford.

“The fact that we have had the good fortune to earn and secure this investment from Ford allows us to accelerate what we would have had to have done to secure any project for this site," Messer said.

Ford would benefit from around a billion dollars’ worth of other previously announced incentives for this project.

Some lawmakers are questioning the state’s use of money to support a multibillion-dollar company. Critics have raised concerns about how much money the state is putting toward the planned battery plant near Marshall.

Supporters say the project is too valuable to risk losing out on.