Senator Mark Johnson (R-East Grand Forks) and State Representative Deb Kiel (R- Crookston) released the following statements regarding the announcement from Epitome Energy moving their Soybean Processing Facility from Crookston to Grand Forks, North Dakota, after delays from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA).
“This is tough news for Crookston, Northwestern Minnesota, and our state,” Johnson said. “Due to a grindingly slow regulatory process by the Walz Administration, we just lost many well-paying jobs, millions of dollars of investment in our local economy, revenue for our local schools, and desperately needed property tax relief. North Dakota Governor Burgum once again stepped up to snatch another promising business from Minnesota while the MPCA and the Walz Administration push away growth and progress for our communities.”
“I am deeply disappointed that the governor’s administration is dragging their feet on this project, which has now cost Minnesotans both jobs and agricultural resources,” said Kiel. “This project has been in process for four years now, and the roadblocks put in place by the MPCA have pushed this important resource out of the state completely. I will continue fighting for Minnesota farmers and agribusiness so this does not happen again.”
Epitome Energy blamed the move on the unnecessarily long permitting process in the State of Minnesota. Epitome Energy had waited over a year-and-a-half for their permit application to be reviewed before exploring elsewhere.
The operation of the new plant was expected to generate hundreds of millions of dollars for the Northwest Minnesota economy and create hundreds of new jobs. Now those benefits will go across the border.
