Ryan Longnecker / WDAY News
Disclaimer: This article may contain the personal views and opinions of the author.
Brandon Bochenski, mayor of Grand Forks, North Dakota, saw a great opportunity to bring new jobs and additional tax revenue to his city a couple of years ago.
He received a proposal, an official RFP (request for proposal), from the Department of Commerce for a new corn mill. Grand Forks won the bid over 24 other cities in the state.
The jubilation of adding 200 new jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenue was short-lived when it was discovered later in the process that the company behind the corn mill project was Chinese-owned.
Just last week, an Air Force Official released a letter claiming that the corn mill project poses a security risk because of its proximity to the Grand Forks Air Force Base which is only 12 miles from the proposed site.
The Chinese-owned company, Fufeng Group, purchased the 300-acre parcel for $2.3 million with plans to invest $700 million in opening the corn mill.
It sounded like a boon for Grand Forks until local and federal authorities warned of the Fufeng Group’s deep ties to the Chinese Communist party.
Since learning of the security risk associated with the project, Bochenski has pledged to work with the federal government to shut down the project.
“We go through a long process, 25 different cities are involved. Grand Forks ends up winning the project, finding out the company is Chinese and locally trying to sort that out,” Bochenski said Monday on “The Story.”
“[We] Went to the FBI, North Dakota trade office, we went to the Air Force.”
“It took a long time to get a firm answer,” Bochenski continued. “When we did get that firm answer, we moved quickly and concisely, and we’re working to shut the project down.”
“It started with Russia invading Ukraine, them being allies. Taiwan. Now it’s the [surveillance] balloon. Farmland. We’ve seen an increase in tensions, and it’s been on the Chinese side.” he said.
In addressing the fact that they already purchased the land, he said, “We have options to be able to step in from that to deny infrastructure and building permits. So they have the land, but they have no ability to build anything on it.”
“It’s been a long process,” Bochenski said. “We initially reached out to the FBI, then the CFIUS (Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States) committee. They really came forth with a lackluster answer that left a lot of questions that needed to be answered.”
“We were certainly surprised,” Bochenski added. “We expected the federal government to do their job and do it quickly, and if they had concerns, communicate it to us.”
“The federal government has requested the city’s help in stopping the project as geo-political tensions have greatly increased since the initial announcement of the project,” Bochenski said in a statement last week.
The Grand Forks mayor went on to outline the city’s limited tools to stop the project. He said they can “refuse to connect industrial infrastructure and deny building permits.”
He’s requesting that the project is stopped, pending City Council approval.
