in Crawford County
SAAB Munitions in Grayling
After almost a decade of fighting water pollution and wildlife destroying expansions by Camp Grayling, Crawford County residents and environmental groups are battling the development of a private $75M ammunitions manufacturing and testing facility, being pushed by Michigan's governor, military leaders, and the DNR.
The Militarization of Michigan
SAAB and Governor Whitmer want to make and test weapons near Camp Grayling
The Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) and Governor Whitmer announced their support for a Grayling military ammunitions manufacturing and testing facility in October, 2024:
"We look forward to welcoming Saab to Michigan as they establish their first footprint here with a $75 million investment in Grayling Township to build on our reputation as a national leader in defense and advanced manufacturing,” said Governor Whitmer. "We look forward to Saab's future growth in Michigan and will work with local partners to get this project across the finish line the right way, ensuring community input is plugged in every step of the way."
SAAB is proposing the greenfield development of a 60 acre facility, on 380 acres in Grayling Township. Developers are promising the creation of 70 jobs.
In January 2025, the MEDC's MSF board approved $2.8M in state taxpayer funding for road construction necessary for the munitions facility. The same month, Michigan's DNR agreed to sell 350 acres of state land to SAAB for $790,000.
Despite Governor Whitmer's claims about community input, the groundswell of local opposition to the project has been obstinently ignored by both local and Lansing officials. Meanwhile, the Governor-appointed MEDC fails to fulfill its most basic obligations to fulfill FOIA requests on the project.
Anglers of the Au Sable fight for transparency
MEDC fails to fulfill FOIA requests for SAAB development documents
Local conservation organization, Anglers of the Au Sable, has been a stalwart protector of the Au Sable River watershed and its surrounding natural areas. In fall of 2024, the Anglers FOIAed the MEDC for documents related to the proposed SAAB facility. As they stated in their late December 2024 letter to local officials:
“Our request generated a response: That Anglers, in exchange for a copy fee of well over $1,000.00 dollars, would receive over 9,000 pages of documents regarding the project within approximately sixty (60) business days.
“Sixty business days have come and gone. Additional communications by Anglers seeking information as to when the documents would be produced have been ignored by the MEDC. The fact that this proposal has faced significant public opposition and has violated, in process, the MOU regarding state lands near the Grayling’s Industrial Park, puts this delayed FOIA response in new light. It raises significant questions with the proposed Saab facility and the process to approve it:
- Where are the 9,000 pages of information that would prove helpful to local decision makers?
- Why is this information seemingly being withheld?
- Did the MEDC think the proposal would pass locally before the sixty-business day window, thus rendering the FOIA materials of little use?”
Anglers of the Au Sable say that they “will review all its options in regard to MEDC’s failure to comply with our state’s FOIA statutes,” including legal action.
Too many unanswered questions
Anglers have not yet opposed the project, but the growing list of unanswered questions has raised concern. In their December 2024 letter, they told the Grayling Charter Township board:
"Though we as an organization have remained neutral on the Saab facility proposal, we are becoming increasingly concerned by the procedural irregularities surrounding it.
How the Saab facility might tie into the larger Camp Grayling expansion, which Anglers of the Au Sable (and Grayling Township) opposed, is only one of numerous items we hoped to uncover in our FOIA request."
Citizen Research: The Complex behind SAAB
Analysis of the Military-Industrial Complex Behind the Grayling Saab Ammunition Facility
The image above and the following are excerpts from a white paper authored by “Grayling Local Citizen Group” in February 2025. Portions of the paper were published on Antiwar.com and authored by a citizen researcher who calls herself Lesley Garcia, “a Navy veteran with a degree from the University of Pennsylvania.”
- The military-industrial complex has extended its influence into Michigan. A thorough examination of the entities involved in the establishment of an ammunition facility in Grayling, Michigan, by Swedish defense contractor Saab highlights the typical operations of the military-industrial complex at the state level in the United States.
- Michigan politicians, led by Governor Gretchen Whitmer, have aggressively sought military-industrial investments under the banner of bolstering the "Arsenal of Democracy." This strategy not only enhances their political and financial standing but also cements their legacies.
- Key military officials, particularly Michigan National Guard Adjutant General Paul Rogers and Assistant Adjutant Scott Myers, have aligned closely with Governor Whitmer to advance her political ambitions. Their efforts include establishing the National All-Domain Warfighting Center (NADWC), expanding Camp Grayling, and fostering partnerships with defense enterprises in exchange for career advancements.
- Local government officials, such as Grayling Township Supervisor Lacey Stephen and Trustee Joe Smock, facilitated the sale of state-owned land to Saab despite strong opposition from local residents and environmental organizations, raising concerns about conflicts of interest and self-enrichment.
Saab’s Corporate Strategy and Environmental Concerns
Saab, one of many defense manufacturers operating in Michigan, has strategically expanded its U.S. presence with ten production facilities nationwide. While the company claims to contribute positively to local economies by creating jobs and investing in communities, its primary objective remains profit-driven.
Saab has employed political donations, post-military employment offers, and community incentives to gain favor, often downplaying environmental risks. Environmental organizations have criticized the company’s assessments as inadequate, citing insufficient data on potential health hazards associated with weapons manufacturing.
Conclusion
The military-industrial complex wields significant influence at the state level, leveraging governmental structures at multiple tiers—state, county, and local—to achieve its objectives. This influence manifests through public relations efforts, legal maneuvers, and procedural manipulations. While the military-industrial complex benefits financially and politically, its operations have concerning implications:
- Erosion of Public Trust: The opaque and often coercive methods used to advance military projects undermine faith in democratic governance.
- Environmental and Health Risks: Military production and testing contribute to long-term pollution, posing threats to local ecosystems and public health.
- Economic Disparities: The uneven distribution of financial gains exacerbates income inequality, while an over-reliance on defense industries fosters economic instability and job market vulnerabilities.
Camp Grayling's legacy of pollution
In 2016, it was discovered that activities on Camp Grayling had contaminated local watersheds and aquifers with PFAs and other chemicals known to be highly hazardous to the health of humans, plants, and wildlife. Well water of 420 homes were affected, requiring residents to rely on bottled water and expensive water purification.
Two years later, water contamination coming from the military camp continued to be a problem.
In 2020, PFAs water contamination was found to be coming from the decommissioned Wurtsmith Air Force base an hour away.
Camp Grayling Expansion
A brief history of the fight against the expansion of Camp Grayling
In June of 2022, Michigan’s DNR announced the state’s plan to expand Camp Grayling by 253 miles, doubling the size of the Michigan Army National Guard Base.
The expansion was broadly opposed by local residents, local officials, legislators, environmental organizations, and even state regulatory officials.
In late 2022, the head of EGLE’s Gaylord office advised the Army National Guard’s Cleanup and Restoration Branch that state officials should reject the expansion proposal due to the Guard’s “inability to take timely action to investigate, mitigate, and remediate significant areas of contamination at Camp Grayling.”
While the wave of opposition did stave off the full expansion, the DNR did end up giving the military base access to 52,000 acres of land for training. In April 2023, the DNR announced that it had denied Camp Grayling’s lease of 162,000 acres, but had simultaneously signed over access to 52,000 acres in a memorandum of understanding (MOU). This expansion has since been hotly contested by locals and environmental organizations–most notably Anglers of the Au Sable.
In their April 2024 request for administrative appeal on the DNR’s MOU, Anglers stated that the increased military exercises on 52,000 acres of state land would result in “a rain of pollution on the headwaters of one of the most famous and most-loved trout streams in the United States, as well on the lands and waters of permanent residents, seasonal residents, and participants in outdoor activities for which the area is justly famous and desired.”
Camp Grayling officials have a demonstrated history of acting with bias against their community due to age and income. As Anglers observed in their April 2024 request, of the Environmental Assessment prepared by Michigan Air National Guard for the MOU with the DNR:
“The EA uses a flawed population model relying on what it claims to be a decreasing and aging population of the affected area. The EA fails to account for tens of thousands of seasonal residents, hikers, bikers, hunters, fishers, and outdoor lovers who support the local economies whose lives, outdoor experience, and property values would be adversely affected by the proposal."
Anglers also state: "We are well aware of the past Guard air activities. We also know that science has progressed and we understand more today than 40 years ago about the impacts on wildlife and humans of noise and pollutants from jet fuel and chaff spread in these exercises.”
