North Dakota senators tried to kill Chinese corn mill project amid national security review: emails
- Draft press release after August call involving governor and mayor cited concerns over ‘project’s proximity’ to Grand Forks Air Force Base
- But city leader in emails contested depiction of his position, which favours allowing federal review of proposed mill to run its course
As a North Dakota city awaits a national security review for a controversial proposed Chinese corn mill in its midst, the state’s two Republican senators personally urged local officials to kill the project without waiting for the probe’s conclusion, public records released by the municipal administration to a local news agency showed.
The revelation came in the form of emails dated August 18 and sent hours after a conference call involving North Dakota’s two US Senators, Kevin Cramer and John Hoeven, Governor Doug Burgum, US Representative Kelly Armstrong and Grand Forks Mayor Brandon Bochenski.
The emails were released at the request of Forum Communications, a local news agency, Bochenski said. The emails of public officials in North Dakota, he added, were “available to anyone who makes a public records request”.
In the email exchange, Hoeven’s communications director, Alex Finken, sent a draft press release to the group announcing they were “recommending that the project not move forward”. It cited the “ongoing national security concern resulting from the project’s proximity to the Grand Forks Air Force Base”, according to the emails.
The statement asserted that the US congressional delegation, governor and mayor in a “joint statement” had agreed that “China’s growing aggression and espionage efforts represent a real threat to our nation”.
It noted that the senators had requested an investigation of the project be conducted by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a federal inter-agency body charged with assessing national security risks involving foreign investments.