The Grand Forks council received updates on a pair of large development projects on Tuesday.
Work is getting underway on a development agreement with Epitome Energy to bring a $400 million dollar soybean crushing plant to the city. Staff will also compile a traffic and utility analysis for the project.
The company has a goal of breaking ground this summer. City Administrator Todd Feland says Epitome has an advantage in working through the permit process. “I think one of the advantages Epitome Energy has is they have shared their permit application that they had with Minnesota and a lot of that information has already been provided.”
The council also received a briefing on the latest timeline for the Fufeng corn milling project. Plans were put on hold during the recent security review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.
Opponents of the company’s ties to China were vocal enough to force the council to pause last night’s meeting. The disruptions continued after the council came back into session – prompting Mayor Brandon Bochenski to ask one woman to leave the meeting. The individual uttered a derogatory comment in response.
The council can expect bi-weekly updates on the project in the coming months.
FOLLOW US FOR INSTANT UPDATES!
