Grand Forks Mayor: Decision expected this week on Fu Feng corn plant

(Grand Forks, ND) -- Clarity on the next steps involving Fu Feng group's bid to build a corn milling plant in Grand Forks may come as soon as this week.

Speaking on WDAY's The Jay Thomas Show, Grand Forks Mayor Brandon Bochenski says he expects the findings of a Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States report is expected to come down at some point soon.

"We don't have the power to take away the land," said Bochenski. "The most we could do in this situation is tell them we aren't going to connect city infrastructure to them. That could make them not build a corn milling plant, but they could build something else I guess."

The highly anticipated CFIUS report is expected in the wake of local, regional and national pushback on the move due to the plant's proximity to Grand Forks Air Force Base.

"It has been extremely challenging, because we want to do things the right way and bring in business and jobs to the community," said Bochenski when talking about the process this has been. "At the end of the day, we don't control land sales in the city. That has been the frustrating part about this whole thing. When it comes down to it, the issue is nobody trusts China, no matter what the report says."

The goal of the CFIUS report is to determine if Fu Feng poses a national security risk to the country.