Air Force opposes Chinese-owned corn plant for North Dakota

By STEVE KARNOWSKI
Associated Press

The U.S. Air Force is telling North Dakota leaders it believes a Chinese company’s plan to build a wet corn milling plant near the Grand Forks Air Force Base poses a national security threat. The Fufeng Group’s proposed $700 million project had been touted as an economic boon. Now opponents say the location 12 miles from the Air Force base creates the potential for espionage. The military isn’t specifying what kind of security threat it’s worried about, but Grand Forks Mayor Brandon Bochenski says he’ll ask the City Council to deny building permits for the project and to refuse to connect it to public infrastructure. Fufeng officials are declining to comment.