For the first time in over 20 years, a US president has blocked a foreign investment. The major news services reported yesterday that President Obama is requiring the privately held Chinese firm, Ralls Corporation, to divest its stake in four Northern Oregon wind farm projects located near a US Navy weapons-testing facility.
“There is credible evidence that leads me to believe that Ralls Corporation…might take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States,” the White House order states.
Ralls had acquired the four wind farm projects earlier in the year. The order requires Ralls to remove all items from the site, including concrete foundations.
BBC News reported that the order came only after an investigation by the US Committee on Foreign Investments which stated, “there was no way to mitigate the security risk” posed by the investment.
USA Today reported that Ralls counsel Tim Xia responded with a statement that Ralls regrets the decision and, "the project poses no national security threat whatsoever ... The President's order is without justification, as scores of other wind turbines already operate in the area where Ralls's project is located."
And Reuters reported that after the announcement on Friday, the company said it was confident it would be vindicated in the courts and under the law and the Constitution. Reuters also reported that as of Saturday Rolls had made no move to divest.
The military has said that it uses the restricted airspace to test fast, low-flying, unmanned drones and other electronic warfare equipment.
George H. W. Bush was the last US president to block a foreign investment, when he prevented a Chinese aero-tech company from acquiring a US manufacturing plant in 1990.
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