The Grand Forks city council did the right thing Monday when it canceled a $700 million deal with a Chinese agribusiness, Fufeng Group Ltd., to build a corn wet milling factory that would bring 2,000 construction and 750 production jobs to the city.
In February 2022, the city council approved what would have been the largest private sector investment in Grand Forks’ history. The project required Grand Forks to come up with $96 million via federal, state, and local funds. That initial layout would allegedly be recouped from “utility rates and special assessments and other fees paid by Fufeng.”
The project has drawn concerns from locals over water, air and traffic impacts — and even security worries because of the Chinese-owned plant’s proximity to the Grand Forks Air Force base, [City Administrator Todd] Feland said Wednesday.
Permitting for the project will address environmental impacts and “to date, there is no concern from a national security perspective,” Feland said.
There may not have been concern about national security, but things have a way of changing.
In June, the city council voted to annex the land for development at the cost of several million dollars (one of the property owners received $2.6 million). But the annexation hearing was not without drama. Here is a gentleman named Jerol Gohrick, representing the North Dakota Sons of Liberty, challenging the project and offering to open a can of whoop-ass on the whole bunch.