GRAND FORKS, NORTH DAKOTA, US — The Grand Forks City Council voted 5-0 on Feb. 6 to not proceed with development of a wet corn milling plant that a China-based company was looking to build within 12 miles of a US air force base.

The council voted to “no longer proceed” with the project “under the conditions of the approved and signed Fufeng USA Incorporated Development Agreement.”

Fufeng USA is a subsidiary of Fufeng Group Ltd., which is based in Qingdao, Shandong Province, China. The company wanted to build a wet corn mill on a 370-acre greenfield site and produce amino acids, lysine and threonine, which are ingredients in animal nutrition feed formulations. It is within 12 miles of the Grand Forks Air Force Base, which is a center of military activities related to air and space operations.

The US Air Force sent a letter to US Senators Kevin Cramer and John Hoeven saying that 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.”

In October, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States said that acquisition of the property by Fufeng was not within its jurisdiction.

It is not known what Fufeng will do with the 370 acres of land it purchased for the project, the Grand Forks Herald reported.