Not everybody in Marshall, Mich., the place Ford Motor Co. is constructing a $3.5 billion battery plant, is thrilled concerning the plan.

“I believe their concept that we want 2,500 jobs right here is simply nuts,” 72-year-old Dale Borders, who lives in a log cabin a number of miles from the Ford website, instructed The Detroit Information final week, “as a result of we do not.”

The newspaper discovered others anxious about how a lot the plant, scheduled to open in 2026, will change life within the metropolis its headline referred to as “quaint.” A few of Marshall’s 7,000 residents have put up indicators pleading “Cease the megasite” and consulted with legal professionals about combating the mission.

“I really feel just like the man in Tiananmen Sq. standing in entrance of the tanks,” mentioned Fred Chapman, 62.

A Ford spokesperson mentioned the automaker is “dedicated to ongoing engagement with the neighborhood to share updates on our plans.” Officers do not count on the opposition to gradual development on the 1,900-acre website.

Frank Brownell, 63, lamented that his house alongside the Kalamazoo River might lose worth as a result of the Ford plant is seen from it.

“The producers can manufacture every kind of great merchandise, however they cannot manufacture farmland,” Brownell instructed The Detroit Information. “I used to farm, and most farmers are stewards of the bottom. However once we do this type of factor, say Ford has this plant for 30 years — that’ll by no means be farmland once more. It is gone.”