A group of Manteno residents trying to pull the plug on a new Chinese lithium battery plant in their community will have more work to do, if they wish to prevail in court, a Kankakee County judge has ruled.
On Sept. 30, Kankakee County Circuit Court Judge Lindsay Parkhurst dismissed, for now, the lawsuit brought by a group of Manteno property owners, known as the Concerned Citizens of Manteno.
That lawsuit was filed earlier this year, asserting the village's approval of the proposed Gotion battery factory was rammed through "under the cover of secrecy," allegedly contrary to the village's own ordinances and rules.
Attorney Robert "Robby" Dube
| Eckland & Blando
Gotion plans to open a 1.5 million square foot battery plant on about 112 acres on the western edge of the community along Interstate 57, just north of Bourbonnais.
The project has drawn strong support from some of Illinois' most powerful politicians, most prominently from the state's top elected Democrat, Gov. JB Pritzker. Last year, Pritzker trumpeted Gotion's desire to build in the state, pledging at least $536 million in tax incentives to back Gotion's plans.
Pritzker has long stated his desire to make Illinois a hub for electric vehicle manufacturing, a goal that includes companies who will manufacture the components needed to support EV makers, such as the large lithium batteries needed to power EVs.
The Gotion project in Illinois has been controversial from the start, however, as have Gotion projects elsewhere in the country.
The controversy has primarily focused on Gotion's ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Concerns over CCP involvement in the company has triggered national security investigations and calls from many observers, including ranking Republicans in Congress, to block the company from operating in the U.S.
Earlier this year, for instance, U.S. Rep. Mark E. Green (R-Tennessee), chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security in the U.S. House of Representatives, along with House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Chairman John Moolenaar (R-Michigan), U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood (R-Illinois), House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security Chairman Carlos Gimenez (R-Florida) and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida), jointly issued a statement calling on the U.S. government to "blacklist" Gotion for its reliance on and use of forced labor and other human rights abuses to source materials used in making its batteries in China, particularly.
To this point, the Biden administration has resisted such calls and Gotion's manufacturing developments have advanced in the U.S., including regionally in Kankakee and Michigan.
Gotion's proposed plants have also drawn local resistance from residents who believe the plants place their communities at risk from the highly combustible lithium batteries and the toxic materials used to make them, among other concerns.
In the Kankakee County lawsuit, Concerned Citizens of Manteno asserted the village and its mayor, Timothy Nugent, rushed needed approvals for the project without proper public involvement and in contravention to the village's own zoning code and prior stated plans for the site.
Notably, they asserted the village approved a $300 million tax abatement for the project site before the name "Gotion" was ever publicly disclosed and they approved a rezoning for the site that defied the village's prior opposition to such "toxic" manufacturing for that site.
For instance, they noted the village had formally opposed the construction of an asphalt plant on a neighboring quarry, which lies next door to the proposed Gotion plant, because of the disruptions that asphalt plant would have caused.
The complaint also noted Manteno's plan commission had recommended approval of the Gotion project after only a five minute hearing, despite the allegedly grave implications for the community from the plant.
In the complaint, the Concerned Citizens assert the Gotion plant notably would endanger the community by planning to allow lithium batteries to burn outside of their buildings as they attempt to extinguish them. The complaint asserts the Manteno Fire Department currently lacks the equipment needed to extinguish such battery fires.
They said this should amount to a "prospective public nuisance."
They asserted the rezoning is also illegal, because it doesn't comply with surrounding land uses and will diminish surrounding property values, while allowing Gotion and the owners of the proposed Gotion site to profit.
They also asserted the Gotion plant approval places the community at risk because of the plant's connection to the Chinese Communist Party, which they said amounts to a national security risk.
In her ruling, Judge Parkhurst chided the plaintiffs for filing a "convoluted" complaint she said does not properly lay out legal counts against the defendants.
"The complaint reads like novel (sic) or thesis rather than a well plead complaint with specific short, concise (sic) allegations that can be admitted or denied," the judge wrote.
The judge dismissed the counts against the village of Manteno and Plan Commission Chair Francis Smith with prejudice, finding state law protects them from being sued directly over land use decisions.
However, the judge said she wasn't terminating the lawsuit just yet against Gotion directly, nor does her decision necessarily end the plaintiffs' pursuit of a court order blocking the village's rezoning and other approvals.
While she dismissed the complaint, she did so without prejudice, meaning the plaintiffs will be given another opportunity to amend their complaint and try to address the shortcomings identified by the judge in her ruling.
She gave them 45 days to do so.
In her ruling, Judge Parkhurst said she dismissed the case at this point because the complaint in its current form was "unanswerable."
She said the allegations presented by the plaintiffs were sufficient to possibly allow the lawsuit to continue, if the plaintiffs can file an improved version of their complaint.
Following the ruling, both sides said they were pleased with the ruling.
In comments published by The Daily Journal newspaper, attorneys for the village and for Gotion both said they believe the decision makes it hard for the plaintiffs to proceed, even in a refiling, noting the judge "granted (their) motion on everything."
In a statement provided to The Cook County Record, plaintiffs' attorney Robert T. "Robby" Dube Jr., of the firm of Eckland & Blando LLP, of Minneapolis, said: "We are very happy with the Judge’s ruling. She denied every attempt by the Village and Gotion to defeat our claims on the merits and ruled that each could proceed. She simply dismissed for us to bring a shorter and more specific complaint, which we intend to do."