The State - News from Dec. 15, 1986

A $670,000 wastewater plant built for the City of Fresno a decade ago partly with federal money but never used is being investigated by the Commerce Department. The apparent waste of $200,000 in federal funds led Commerce officials to briefly consider “blacklisting” Fresno from receiving other grants, the Fresno Bee reported. The department’s preliminary findings are that the city’s planning was inadequate, the plant was not economically feasible to operate and the city did too little to use it in some way. Federal officials are considering making the city repay the economic development grant, but Acting City Manager James Aldredge expects instead a demand that the city find some useful purpose for the idle plant. The plant was designed to process wastes from a slaughterhouse and rendering facility.