Foreign citizens or companies would have to get the green light from the US government before buying land near eight US military bases under a new rule proposed by the Biden administration on Friday.
The move comes after a Chinese company planned to build a grinding plant near an Air Force base in Grand Forks, North Dakota, until the Pentagon and lawmakers objected and local officials scrapped the project.
Under the rule change proposed by the Treasury Department’s Office of Investment Security, the US government would need to approve any attempt by foreign companies or citizens to buy property within 100 miles of the North Dakota base. and seven other bases in California, Texas, South Dakota, Iowa and Arizona.
The proposed rule, which was published in the Federal Register, would give greater authority to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which reviews trade agreements between US companies and foreign investors for any potential national security impact, to examine land sales near the eight military installations .
Chinese firm Fufeng Group last year bought 370 acres for a corn-grinding plant that would have been located about 12 miles from Grand Forks Air Force Base. The planned $700 million plant would have created more than 200 direct jobs, according to local officials.
In February, the Air Force wrote to North Dakota officials saying the military considered the planned plant a security risk.
After the letter, local officials reversed course and voted to end their agreement with Fufeng.
The Grand Forks base houses the 319th Air Base Wing, including surveillance drones, and monitors satellites in the US military’s communications network.
Eric Chutorash, chief operating officer of Fufeng USA, the US subsidiary of the Fufeng Group, rejected criticism that the plant could be used to conduct surveillance at the Air Force base, CNBC previously reported.