Small Illinois Town Battles State-Backed Chinese Battery Project

When Illinois state officials unveiled a $2 billion battery project in 2023 with great fanfare, to be built in a village of roughly 9,000 people, local residents who opposed it faced a battle against more than a multinational company.Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration welcomed the Gotion Illinois project with a state incentive package valued at $536 million, promises of thousands of jobs, and local approvals that were celebrated as an economic development victory.Manteno residents met the announcement with homemade signs, comments at public meetings, fundraising against the project, a lawsuit, and government candidates of their own.Nearly three years later, work is underway at the facility, Illinois has paid Gotion $165 million in cash grants, and residents are still pushing back.“It’s a small town fighting a multibillion-dollar company,” Village Trustee Mike Barry told The Epoch Times.Former Illinois state Rep. Jeanne Ives described the struggle as a “David-versus-Goliath fight.”Gotion Inc., which received the state grants, is the U.S. subsidiary of China-based battery manufacturer Gotion High-Tech. The Chinese parent identifies founder Li Zhen as its controller and documents an internal Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organization.Concerned Citizens of Manteno was formed soon after the project was announced in September 2023. Its members objected not only to the subsidies and approval process, but also to allowing a company with documented CCP ties to establish a major industrial operation in their town.“We are inviting our enemies into our town,” Annette LaMore, then a local activist and now Manteno’s mayor, told The Epoch Times in late 2023 about the community’s opposition efforts.Ryan McHeffey, a local veteran, was equally direct.“This is our town, not theirs, and we’re going to fight to save it,” he said.Manteno-area residents rally against the planned Gotion battery plant in Manteno, Ill., in 2023. The opposition movement later went from public protests to legal action and village elections. Courtesy of Concerned Citizens of MantenoDarrel Bruck, co-founder of OUTRAGE NFP, said the all-volunteer Illinois watchdog group helped Manteno residents organize when the project became public.Bruck said the opposition was directed at China’s ruling party, not at the Chinese people or Asian ethnicity.“We’re against the Chinese Communist Party,” he told The Epoch Times. “This isn’t about Asian people.”Gotion Illinois did not respond to a request for comment from The Epoch Times.Illinois Welcomes GotionPritzker announced the project at a signing ceremony on Sept. 8, 2023, calling it the largest electric vehicle battery investment in Illinois history.Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Gotion representatives announce the battery project in Manteno, Ill., on Sept. 8, 2023. The state valued the incentive package at $536 million. Office of Gov. JB PritzkerThe state said Gotion would convert a 1.5 million-square-foot former Kmart distribution center into a factory producing lithium-ion battery cells, battery packs, and integrated energy storage systems.The administration projected a $2 billion investment and 2,600 full time jobs. Illinois valued the incentive package at $536 million, including $125 million in capital funding, eligibility for $213 million in tax benefits over 30 years, and other assistance. Local authorities approved a 30-year property tax abatement.Pritzker called it “the most significant new manufacturing investment in Illinois in decades.”Li praised Illinois for its “supportive state government” and “highly efficient work.”Residents said the announcement came with little warning.“All of a sudden, everybody heard about it,” resident Julie Holda told The Epoch Times in its 2023 account of the town’s response.Bruck said he became involved immediately and helped the residents establish Concerned Citizens of Manteno as a nonprofit organization.He said the campaign later drew attention from national media and members of Congress who traveled to Manteno to discuss concerns about the CCP and Chinese investment.Residents organized rallies outside village meetings and the Kankakee County Courthouse and collected donations to help fund a legal challenge.Illinois comptroller records reviewed by The Epoch Times show the state paid Gotion Inc. $165 million through five grant payments between December 2023 and December 2025. The final $27.5 million was paid on Dec. 30, 2025.Newly released state records identify some of the underlying costs. Under a $25 million grant, Gotion reported charging $20.5 million toward the Manteno property purchase and $4.5 million toward battery-production equipment.A separate $15 million grant was modified in October 2025. Illinois approved moving the entire award from a mix of equipment and construction into module, pack, and energy-storage production-line equipment after Gotion requested more time and cited “unforeseen circumstances.”As of Sept. 30, 2025, Gotion’s financial report listed no expenses charged to that grant. A later ledger reported the full $15 million against production-line equipment during the final quarter of the year.In response to The Epoch Times’ public-records request, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity said it had no separate payment requests, milestone certifications, compliance reviews, or approval records supporting the two Dec. 30 payments. The department also said it had no other records showing Gotion’s current compliance status, describing the periodic reports as the closest comparable records in its possession.Residents relied on private donations to pursue their lawsuit as Illinois continued making grant payments to Gotion.“We’ve given this company everything under the stars to come here,” Barry said.Concerns Over the CCPIn a 2022 corporate responsibility report, China-based Gotion High-Tech said it had 923 CCP members and 11 party branches, and it described party-building work across its operations.Those disclosures became central to the Manteno opposition effort.Residents said they did not view the project as ordinary foreign investment. They saw Illinois using taxpayer money to help a company tied to China’s ruling communist system establish a foothold in their community.Bruck said residents were also angered by the public subsidies and by what they saw as a lack of reciprocity between the United States and China.“All we’re doing is subsidizing the Chinese Communist Party,” he said. “Why would we want to do that?”A woman holds a sign to protest the Gotion project near the Gotion facility in Manteno, Ill., in September 2023. Courtesy of Concerned Citizens of MantenoThe concerns also reached Congress. House lawmakers questioned whether U.S. tax incentives should benefit Chinese battery companies while Washington was trying to reduce dependence on Beijing-controlled supply chains.Then Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) along with other lawmakers also asked the Treasury Department to examine Gotion’s projects.Barry later moved for Manteno to ask Gotion to seek review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). The motion failed after Gotion’s counsel argued that the new Manteno project fell outside CFIUS jurisdiction.Barry and Trustee Peggy Vaughn supported the request, but they did not have enough votes to pass it.A Parallel Fight in MichiganManteno was not the first Midwestern community where residents organized against a proposed Gotion facility.In 2022, Gotion announced plans for a $2.364 billion battery components plant in Green Charter Township, Michigan. Local resistance helped elect a new township board that withdrew support for the development.Bruck said the Michigan campaign also helped connect Illinois residents with the lawyers who later represented Concerned Citizens of Manteno.The Michigan project never reached the construction stage. Michigan terminated its support in October 2025 and sought repayment of about $23.6 million already spent on the project after declaring Gotion in default.The projects were designed for different stages of battery production. The proposed Michigan plant would have made cathode and anode materials for customers in North America and abroad, while the Manteno facility was planned to produce battery cells, packs, and energy-storage systems.Unlike the Michigan proposal, however, the Illinois facility moved forward and received substantial state grant funding.From Protesters to OfficeholdersIn Illinois, residents pursued their opposition through both the courts and the ballot box.Concerned Citizens of Manteno and resident Brian Kovaka filed suit in December 2023, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief over the village’s approval of the project.The defendants filed motions to dismiss earlier versions of the complaint. After further amendments and court rulings, the case advanced into discovery, with interrogatories, document requests, subpoenas, and deposition notices involving Gotion, village officials, project consultants, and other entities.In April 2025, LaMore won the mayor’s office, while Barry and Vaughn won seats on the six-member Village Board.The victories placed three declared Gotion opponents inside village government, but they still lacked a majority on the board.Bruck said neither Gotion nor the officials who approved the project had expected the scale or persistence of the opposition.“They did not anticipate at all this happening—that the people would rise up the way they did,” he said.The board’s divisions have not always followed the original political lines.Trustee Joel Gesky, who was not elected with the anti-Gotion slate, later joined Barry in pressing for firmer fire brigade requirements to prevent the spread of battery fires. During the July 20 Village Board meeting, Gesky said the issue had continued “for far too long.”“The buck stops right here, right now,” he said.Barry said winning office brought residents into discussions and gave them access to documents that had previously been beyond their reach. It did not, however, end the larger struggle.He said Gotion had lost his trust after years of disputes over commitments made when the project was approved.“I am opposed to the project,” Barry said.Mike Barry speaks during public comment at a Manteno Village Board meeting on June 17, 2024. He was elected village trustee the following year. Courtesy of the Village of MantenoFire Promise Put to the TestThe Manteno Community Fire Protection District warned village officials in November 2025 that several safety commitments remained unresolved.The district said Gotion had promised that its operations would not place an additional burden on local firefighters and that it would establish an industrial fire brigade.“As of this date, these commitments remain unfulfilled,” the district wrote.It cited an incomplete fire brigade, unresolved emergency planning, missing sprinkler documentation, communications-system concerns, and occupancy issues. The district also warned that continuing deficiencies could prompt a review of Gotion’s local tax abatement.LaMore made the letter public during the Dec. 1 board meeting.Gotion representative Andrew Wheeler told the board one month later that the company had resolved the outstanding fire-safety matters.He said an emergency plan had been approved, the communications system was functioning, a fire truck had been purchased, and a brigade with experienced firefighters and a fire marshal was in place.“We have resolutions on all the outstanding items regarding fire safety at the plant,” Wheeler said during the Jan. 5 meeting.Village officials nevertheless continued working on a written agreement covering staffing, qualifications, reporting, and enforcement.“This is the last straw,” Barry said. “We’re not playing around with this fire brigade anymore.”Barry said village officials gave Gotion until July 31 to return the agreement and until Aug. 31 to have 18 qualified firefighters—six covering each of three shifts.A July 17 village draft reviewed by The Epoch Times would require six firefighters with certifications recognized by the Illinois State Fire Marshal to be present during each shift, providing continuous coverage around the clock.Gotion did not respond by publication time to questions about whether it intended to sign the agreement.Barry also provided video showing water rising through a floor drain and spreading across a work area inside the plant. He said the incident followed a backup in the facility’s stormwater system.Water rises through a floor drain and spreads across a work area inside the Gotion facility in Manteno, Ill. Village Trustee Mike Barry said the incident followed a backup in the plant’s stormwater system. Courtesy of Mike Barry‘We’re Going to Stay in the Fight’The court allowed the plaintiffs to file a fourth amended complaint in May. An Aug. 17 hearing is scheduled on the defendants’ motion to strike that complaint and for sanctions, along with the status of discovery.Ives called the state support for Gotion “wasted,” describing the subsidies as an economic and policy failure.“The entire project is nonsensical when it comes to thinking that battery storage is economical,” she told The Epoch Times.She said residents have been forced to finance a prolonged legal battle against a company supported by public grants, tax benefits, and state officials.Ives accused Gotion of prolonging the litigation in hopes that residents would run out of money—an allegation the company did not answer.“That’s not going to happen,” Ives said. “We’re going to stay in the fight.”A resident protests the Gotion battery project before a Manteno Village Board meeting in November 2023. Opponents raised concerns about state subsidies, local control, and the company’s ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Courtesy of Jeanne Ives