Lifelong Manteno resident Annette LaMore loves the way the village is today.

She’s intent on trying to keep it that way.

LaMore, 74, is one of a few hundred Manteno residents who have bonded together for the common cause of fighting the Gotion lithium battery plant that’s being built inside the former Kmart distribution center on South Spruce Street just west of Interstate 57.

“We have a lot of good people,” she said. “This has brought a lot of people together that never met each other before, and that’s a fact.”

Soon after the Sept. 8 announcement that Gotion was going to transform the former warehouse into a battery factory, those opposing the development came together to form the Concerned Citizens of Manteno.

They pooled their resources and voices in a fight to save their small-town atmosphere of Manteno, which sits on the northern edge of Kankakee County with a population of 9,200 residents.

“It’s unreal,” said Amanda Piker, of Manteno, who is also a member of the Concerned Citizens. “We’ve lived in this town for about 35 years and have never met any of [the others in the group].”

LaMore said as she’s grown older she hadn’t had the opportunity to meet a lot of the younger people who moved into Manteno.

“It’s brought a lot of us together,” said Piker, 36. “A lot of passionate people who have a love for our town. It’s like everybody just started coming from every direction, and they just bring in different types of expertise to the table.

“So we have worked together with people that we have just met, who share the same passion. But it’s everybody who’s a piece of the puzzle,” she said.

Piker said everyone comes from a different walk of life. LaMore estimates the Concerned Citizens of Manteno numbers 500 or so residents.

“We don’t have membership cards,” she joked.

But the Concerned Citizens are serious about the fight against Gotion and have strengthened its numbers through the website, <a href="https://www.NoGotion-Illinois.com" target="_blank">NoGotion-Illinois.com</a>.

In December, it also filed a lawsuit in Kankakee County Circuit Court, challenging the recent rezoning of the plant location from light industrial to heavy industrial, among other concerns.

It’s more than likely that Gotion will already be producing batteries by the time the lawsuit is argued in court in about a year.

Group members have attended every Manteno Village Board meeting since the fight began, as well as showing up at committee meetings and Kankakee County Board meetings to voice their disapproval.

<strong>WHY ARE THEY AGAINST GOTION?</strong>

LaMore said the No. 1 objection is the health and safety issue. No. 2 is national security, she said.

Gotion is a China-based company, although Germany’s Volkswagen has a 25% stake in the company and Gotion has its U.S. headquarters in Freemont, Calif., and a research and development site in Ohio.

“What in the world are leaders today thinking?” LaMore said. “… Christopher Wray, who’s the director of the FBI, met with five English-speaking countries of the world. They all were in agreement our biggest threat today to our national security is China.

“So what are we doing? And why do we want to give taxpayer money to a foreign company when there’s so many people here in the United States that would love to have our help. Those are my biggest concerns.”

Part of the lawsuit is that the Manteno village code prohibits the use of toxic chemicals, and the rezoning was approved anyway. LaMore said that lithium ion phosphate is a toxic chemical that causes burns and toxic fumes. The use of synthetic graphite is also dangerous.

“It’s not water soluble,” she said. “So it floats, is harmful to organisms, plants, wildlife.”

The use of NMP (N-Methylpyrrolidone) at the plant also worries LaMore, who said it shouldn’t be used because it causes birth defects, cancer and is harmful to the liver.

“Why would anybody think that’s a good idea to have that in our backyard?” she asked. “There are literally hundreds, if not thousands of people within that mile circle of where that Kmart building is.”

It should be noted that the use of chemicals at the plant will be highly-regulated by the state and federal Environmental Protection Agency as well as adhering to strict guidelines by OSHA and code enforcement.

The high-tech plant will be producing the latest technology in lithium batteries — lithium-ion phosphate or LFP cell. Those are much different from lithium batteries one might have in their home, and they don’t catch fire when punctured.

The plant will be carbon neutral, and solar panels will eventually cover the roof of the building. No smokestacks will be a part of the plant.

Piker added that Gotion is going to threaten their way of life in small-town Manteno.

“I am working age,” Piker said. “I’m the one that’s going to be stuck, and my kids are going to be stuck paying for all these tax breaks, and then paying for all the infrastructure that this plant requires. As they build, we’re going to be paying for the water infrastructure, electrical infrastructure for years to come.

“Everything that they build for this plant is going to require people to work in those areas … everything. We are going to be paying for this for years to come.”

LaMore also said that although she doesn’t believe the plant will bring 2,600 jobs as projected, she wonders where all these employees will live.

“Are we going to expect a big huge growth spurt?” she said. “Some of us like our town, and we like the safety of it. And the quaintness of the small town feeling, and they’re taking all that away from us.”

The $2-billion Gotion project promises to create 2,600 jobs with an average salary of $55,000. The company’s goal is to fill those roles by 2025.

Gotion’s total incentive package from the state of Illinois is valued at $536 million. In addition, 10 taxing bodies in Kankakee County agreed to cap property taxes paid on the approximate 150-acre property, once it doubles in value, at $2 million per year for the next 30 years.

<strong>FUNDRAISING EFFORT</strong>

The Concerned Citizens of Manteno quickly mobilized and initially raised $20,000 and retained attorney Robby Dube from Eckland &amp; Blando, of Minneapolis, Minn. That expense covered the retainer fee, and CCOM has continued fundraising efforts.

LaMore estimates they have raised $50,000 for the legal fight.

“We have some very talented people in our group, and we know how to do things,” LaMore said. “It’s like Amanda said, we’re coming from all walks of life here, and it’s tremendous. I hope we all work together. … We’re a bunch of people in a small town.”

LaMore said the CCOM has received donations from across the country, attributed to some coverage by ultra conservative media outlets.

“We’ve had mailings come in with checks from Honolulu, Hawaii, from Arizona, Louisiana, California,” she said. “And a lot of those people we’ve never met. There are people who moved from Manteno that have also contacted me, and that got donations.”

<strong>RIGHT-WING MOVEMENT</strong>

LaMore and Piker were interviewed and appeared on a segment on Newsmax, an American cable news network described as conservative and right-wing.

Piker was interviewed by conservative talk show host Glenn Beck for a podcast.

Members of the Illinois Freedom Caucus of Illinois, made up of some of the most conservative voices in state politics, attended a rally against Gotion in early October outside the Manteno community center before a village board meeting.

“People in America, who are awake and watching what’s happening, are very concerned about our country,” LaMore said. “And if you think it’s not in your backyard right now, just wait another year.”

Part of the pushback across the country is that many don’t agree with the move to electric vehicles that are powered by lithium batteries like the ones that will be produced at Gotion. China is taking the lead on producing the batteries for EVs, so China-bashing is part of the conservative pushback.

<strong>OBJECTION TO CHINA-OWNED PLANT</strong>

A lot of the CCOM members, who have spoken against Gotion at village board meetings, repeatedly object to Gotion being a Chinese company, alleging it has ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

What if the company was from Germany, Australia or Canada?

“I prefer American companies in America,” LaMore said.

“Our country sold us out years ago by shipping labor overseas for cheap,” Piker said. “Now these companies, these countries want to come here because guess who the next cheap laborers is gonna be? Us. I don’t think any foreign company should own our land.”

Is there a racial element to the opposition?

Part of the Illinois Freedom Caucus rhetoric was it’s not against Chinese people, but it’s against China’s investment in American land and business. Yet, in October, Manteno police answered a phone call that said there were two Chinese people walking in a neighborhood.

Bob Forsythe, one of the more vocal members of the CCOM, said it’s not a race issue when he spoke at Tuesday’s Kankakee County Board meeting.

“This is a huge issue that represents all of us,” Forsythe said. “With the Chinese Communist Party, you guys voted for stuff that you didn’t know what you were voting for, but you voted anyhow.”

Forsythe asked county board Chairman Andy Wheeler, who won’t seek re-election when his term ends in November, to step down immediately. He also called for Manteno Mayor Tim Nugent to resign at the most recent village board meeting.

“Everybody has their own opinion,” Nugent said after the meeting.

Much of CCOM’s ire on the Gotion project has been directed at Nugent, village trustees and Gov. J.B. Pritzker. They felt they didn’t have a say in the decision to sell the former Kmart property although it was a private business transaction.

“The whole thing stinks,”LaMore said. “What is the term people used to say years ago? ‘There’s something rotten in Denmark.’ Something’s not right, and so I believe it’s all about money. And I believe Mr. Pritzker is behind all of this. And I think that some of these people are just allies with Pritzker and do what they’re told.”