United States: According to a state court ruling, residents of Grand Forks, North Dakota may not get a chance to decide whether to block Chinese agribusiness Fufeng Group from visiting the city.
In a decision that pleased city officials but worried some residents, North Dakota District Judge Donovan Fitty on Friday called for a citywide referendum on a proposed 370-acre corn milling plant by the company's American subsidiary, Fufueng USA. The request of the petitioners was rejected.
Grand Forks city administrator, Todd Feland, referred to the council's decision to fully support the project as a "good day" to local protests.
“The agreements or contracts we enter into are not subject to the terms of the citizens,” he claimed. And having elected officials is just one aspect of it.
Grand Forks, a city of 58,000 people, is still divided on the Fufeng offer. The council granted the necessary approvals and permits, praising it as a US$700 million "development project" that would create jobs.
However, some locals have expressed concerns about national security, pointing out that Grand Forks Air Force Base, which is located 12 miles from the site, is home to operations that have been handled by top US intelligence, surveillance and Important for reconnaissance. Capabilities.
The Fufeng dispute reached Washington. Mike Rounds, a Republican senator from the neighboring state of South Dakota, announced that the Grand Forks project had "worried" him. He then introduced legislation to "blacklist China" and prevent it from buying any agricultural land or agribusiness in the US.
By April, residents had collected more than 5,000 signatures for citywide voting on the matter.
Petitioners have the option of appealing the decision to the North Dakota Supreme Court, but Santa Grzydzilevski, wife of main litigator Ben Gjadzilevsky and administrator of the Facebook page "Concerned Citizens of the Fufeng Project at Grand Forks," posted a statement. "Give us some time to hash it out and figure out our next step."
Despite the outcome of this test, we have made great progress in the fight overall, Facebook's statement continued.
People for the Vote, a non-profit organization, has been soliciting donations for the past month on a fundraising website; However, the amount raised so far—just over US$6,000—falls short of the organization's stated goal of US$50,000.
The decision was taken as Fufeng USA and the city council await the report of the American Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) on the project. CFIUS is a federal inter-agency body that assesses risks to national security from foreign investments in the United States.
Although we anticipate that Fufeng will receive some preliminary decisions by August 31, Feland said, "we have no control over what Congress may or may not do in the future."
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