(Via Arizona Land Department)
By Kathleen Stinson | Queen Creek Tribune
The day after a South Korean energy company’s partner cast the sole bid of $84.44 million for 650.5 acres of state land in Queen Creek for a lithium battery manufacturing plant, nearly a dozen angry citizens confronted Town Council to oppose the $1.4 billion project.
ES America, which is partnering with LG Energy Solution Ltd, won the State Land Department auction, prompting local and state officials to hail the deal – which they said would bring thousands of jobs to the northeast corner of Ironwood and Germann roads near Zimmerman Dairy Farm and CMC Steel Arizona, southeast of Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport.
Town Council last Dec. 1 approved the site’s rezoning to urban employment after residents in the area nearby were given the opportunity to provide comment, town spokeswoman Constance Halonen-Wilson told The Tribune last week.
But residents who spoke at the April 20 council meeting – echoing complaints made by others at another council session two weeks earlier – accused officials of ignoring their questions about the deal and giving their blessing to an operation that posed environmental and health dangers to the community.
