Ten years ago, city of South Sioux City officials were excited for the possibility of business expansion with a renewable fuels plant.
Now, the city has agreed to a settlement of nearly $10 million to finalize litigation related to the Big Ox plant after numerous South Sioux City residents complained about fumes in their homes.
Many city council meetings in the late 2010s saw frequent resident complaints, so the plant was eventually shut down.
As first reported by the Sioux City Journal on Wednesday, the full settlement agreement has two pieces totaling $9.75 million. South Sioux City Mayor Rod Koch said the city obtained the land and adjacent land of the Big Ox plant.
The mayor said one possible path is to demolish the plant and redevelop the site, which was the place where lots of local and state officials pointed to a great expected future for Big Ox, when the groundbreaking occurred.
Big Ox was in operation from 2016 to 2019.
“That thing was nothing but trouble,” Koch told the Journal.
