Grand Forks Mayor Brandon Bochenski released a statement on the Fufeng USA Project proposed in Grand Forks. The statement is below –
“The City of Grand Forks (City) has continued to operate in good faith over the last 16 months of due diligence while awaiting an official response from the Federal Government. Construction was paused during the review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which ultimately concluded that Fufeng USA’s (Project) acquisition of property in the City was not within the jurisdictional purview of the national security agency. 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. The only remedies the City has to meet this directive is to refuse to connect industrial infrastructure and deny building permits. As Mayor of the City of Grand Forks, I am requesting these remedies be undertaken and the Project be stopped, pending City Council approval. These actions do not affect the land ownership as the company will still legally own the land they have purchased. The response from the Federal Government during this process can only be viewed as slow and contradictory. This directive leaves open the question of other entities with Chinese connections across the nation, to include Grand Forks’ Cirrus Aircraft site location and Chinese students and professors at the University of North Dakota.
I want to thank Senators John Hoeven and Kevin Cramer, and Representative Kelly Armstrong for their continued support throughout the process. Governor Burgum and the State of North Dakota have been great and steadfast partners in the vetting and undertaking of these types of major and challenging projects for the benefit of our great State of North Dakota. I am thankful for the work done by the City to lay out a long and thorough review process that allowed for the utmost due diligence. As always, our commitment to the Grand forks Air Force Base has never been stronger and we look forward to the future.”
Tags: