The U.S. Department of the Air Force has an “unambiguous” view on the Chinese corn mill project located in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and within 15 miles of the Grand Forks Air Force base, which houses sensitive drone, satellite, and surveillance technology.
“While CFIUS [Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States] concluded that it did not have jurisdiction, the Department’s view is unambiguous: the proposed project presents a significant threat to national security with both near- and long-term risks of significant impacts to our operations in the area,” wrote Andrew Hunter, assistant secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics, to Sens. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) and John Hoeven (R-N.D.) in a Jan. 27 letter.
As a result, Grand Forks Mayor Brandon Bochenski announced on Tuesday that he plans to stop the project.
“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 press statement. “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.”
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum issued a statement on the same day, stating: “As we said previously, our top priority is the security of our citizens and our nation. We joined with city leaders in asking the federal government for clarity on any national security implications related to the Fufeng project, and now we finally have that clarity. The U.S. Air Force has stated that its ‘view is unambiguous: the proposed project presents a significant threat to national security with both near- and long-term risks of significant impacts to our operations in the area.’
“Given these concerns, we support the decision by the City of Grand Forks to initiate steps to stop the project with Fufeng Group and will support the city in finding another partner for a corn milling operation,” Burgum added.
Regarding the Fufeng project’s termination, Ben Grzadzielewski, a Grand Forks resident who has been leading the political and legal campaigns against the project, told The Epoch Times, “It goes to show you that the people still have the ability to rise up and overcome. If they’d listened to us in the beginning, it would’ve saved them a year’s worth of time and a lot of money.” The city of Grand Forks announced the Fufeng project in November 2021 and approved the development agreement in July 2022.
Fufeng USA, the U.S. subsidiary of Fufeng Group, a large Chinese bio-fermentation products manufacturer, will still own the 370-acre farmland they purchased in Grand Forks in the fall of 2021. The Epoch Times has contacted Fufeng USA for comment.
Last month, CFIUS decided it didn’t have jurisdiction over the land purchase. Before that, the project had prompted significant pushback from Republican lawmakers and locals who said it threatened both national and economic security.
Both Sens. Cramer and Hoeven raised national security concerns before and after the CFIUS review.
As of Dec. 31, 2020, China owned 325,686 acres of U.S. agricultural land, according to the USDA. While the acreage under Chinese ownership is slightly less than 1 percent of all foreign-held agricultural land, it represents a 20-fold leap from 13,720 acres in 2010.
Many state officials have also sounded the alarm about Chinese ownership of U.S. farmland. As a result, some states are creating legislation to prohibit or restrict Chinese entities from buying U.S. agricultural land and businesses. These states include South Dakota, Florida, Texas, Virginia, Missouri, and Iowa.