Mason City,
Missouri, has voted against a proposal by Prestage Farms Ltd. to build a $240-million
pork-packing plant there.
It would have
employed about 1,000 workers.
Environmental
concerns were cited by those who voted against the proposal.
The council vote
was actually a 3-3 tie after 63 people spoke at the meeting.
Days earlier,
Lincoln Premium Poultry of Georgia was turned down by Nickerson, Neb., on its
plans to build a $1.2-billion chicken processing plant that would also employ
about 1,000 workers.
The company now is
looking at a 400-acre site at Fremont, Neb. Its chicken would supply Costco.
Environmental
issues also were a big factor at Nickerson, but so was the likelihood that many
of the employees would be Mexicans.
