The Chinese firm Ralls Corp is suing President Barack Obama for denying the company permission to construct wind farms. The Chinese company claims the U.S. government does not have the authority to block their investments.
These wind farms were to be built in China by the company Sany Group and installed in Oregon by Ralls Corp, which is owned by Sany Group, China’s leading company in engineering and building machines.
The farms were to be located on land neighboring a restricted access airport owned by the U.S. Navy.
BBC News reported, “The military has said it uses the Oregon base to test unmanned drones and other equipment for electronic warfare. The aircraft fly as low as 200 feet (60 m) at speeds of as much as 300 mph (500km/h).”
The presidential order reads, “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.”
Obama released the order after the U.S. Committee on Foreign
Investments finished its investigation of the Chinese firm.
A foreign investment has not been blocked in the U.S. since 1990.
Eastern Michigan University student Alex Ostroskie said, “If there is a threat to national security, they shouldn’t be allowed to build wind farms there.”
The Ralls Corp argues that Obama has no real evidence to support that their company impairs national security.
The BBC reported a legal officer for Ralls Corp believes the
president’s move had something to do with the upcoming election and U.S. jobs.
When EMU student Nick Casella heard the farms are run by Chinese business owners, he said, “They should build wind turbines in their own country.”
In late September, the Mitt Romney presidential campaign aired a 30 second video that said, “Fewer Americans are working today than when President Obama took office (according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics). It doesn’t have to be this way if Obama would stand up to China.”
The rest of the clip talks about the connection between China, Obama’s foreign policies and the decline of American jobs.
In response, Obama’s campaign condemned Romney for outsourcing jobs to China, when he served as a private equity chief, and for investing in Chinese companies.
