Why hold economic developers Accountable?

Economic development corporations, or EDCs, were initially designed and implemented as non-profit organizations that promote economic development within a targeted geographic area, for a targeted purpose, without profiting off the venture. Take, for example, a blighted urban community with high crime and no grocery stores nearby. Where a standard developer would find the prospect of building a grocery store here too problematic and unprofitable, an economic development corporation could, likely with the help of city taxpayers, develop a grocery store to benefit the community. Or an EDC might provide funding for a local tool and die shop to upgrade its equipment in order to stay competitive with multinational competitors.

State and local officials modified this model into a public-private EDC, which is partially funded by taxpayers, but partially funded by businesses and private donors. The Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) and The Right Place are both such public-private EDCs. These types of EDCs are under the same mission as the purely public kind–to uplift communities by supporting targeted development, without profit–but with more cash to work with, to be able to do bigger projects.

Michigan has experienced the influence of such economic development since 2008, in the form of the MEDC’s “Pure Michigan” campaign, which is also the slogan for the MEDC. The Pure Michigan campaign received $45 million in public funding in 2008 under Governor Granholm, and has since maintained annual advertising budgets of over $20 million per year.

For over 30 years, under the leadership of CEO Birgit Klohs, The Right Place provided exactly the type of service a good EDC is supposed to; they made small, targeted investments in the manufacturers and small to mid sized businesses in the greater Grand Rapids area. But in 2021, Ms. Klohs retired, and was replaced with a new CEO named Randy Thelen.

Today, the MEDC more closely resembles a welfare agent for billionaires and unvetted foreign investments than it does a non-profit EDC making targeted investments to benefit the community. From over $600M for the wasteful, unwanted District Detroit, to $715M for Gotion EV in Big Rapids, to $630M CATL EV in Marshall, to similar investments all over the state, these public-private ECDs have strayed far from their mission–with billions in taxpayer dollars in hand.

Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) is the state’s regulatory agency for environmental regulation, including permitting. You may have seen their representatives on news clips, or in articles, talking about cleaning up toxic waste out of our watersheds. 

Unfortunately, EGLE has not been proactive in doing the most basic of due diligence on these EV megasites, let alone protecting our vulnerable watersheds from industrial development. In Marshall, EGLE allowed MAEDA, to come in and take out all of the trees–before EGLE’s field workers came out to check the site for nesting bats. In Big Rapids, residents demanding to see environmental impact studies on the Gotion plant are being told to talk to EGLE, whose people shrug and simply say that permits have not yet been filed.

All the evidence indicates that EGLE has been captured by special interests. These projects have a lot of money attached to them.