The Argus Leader has a report on a huge expansion of the Sioux Fgalls Morrell meat packing plant:
Local and state leaders on Friday lauded John Morrell & Co.'s $100 million expansion plans and emphasized the plant's importance to the city and state.
As in the delegation's recent victory to save Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota's senators united to celebrate a win for Sioux Falls' future. Past conflicts about the livestock production and ownership practices of Morrell's parent company, Smithfield Foods Inc., weren't evident Friday.
"Sioux Falls is on a roll," U.S. Sen. John Thune told the crowd gathered for the event. He credited a "progressive and steady" local leadership for Morrell's nearly centurylong existence in Sioux Falls.
"It's about jobs; it's about economic development; it's about building a better way of life," Thune said.
In 2002, Morrell threatened to leave Sioux Falls if a proposition to restrict packing companies' ability to own livestock was passed in Congress. The ban, pushed by U.S. Sen. Tim Johnson, passed the Senate but was eliminated by the House in negotiations over the farm bill.
Thune, then a U.S. representative, introduced a different version of packer limits. It, too, failed.
On Friday, Johnson called Sioux Falls "an engine of economic development growth and expansion."
"It's a win for Sioux Falls, clearly, but also a win for pork producers in the region who will have a place for their product," Johnson said. "I look forward to another century of John Morrell."
If Johnson got his way, Morrell’s would not even be in Sioux Falls let alone expanding. So why is he taking credit? This morning he was taking credit for a small park in Alexandria, SD. Pork is OK when it is a park, but not when it is to eat? And the Democrats whine about fiscal responsibility?
