Horse processing plant developers have abandoned plans to locate a plant at a Missouri industrial park because site preparation costs would be too high.

In February the Wyoming-based Unified Equine LLC announced it was conducting a study to determine the feasibility of locating a horse processing plant in the Twin Cities Industrial Park near Mountain Grove. On March 6 Mountain Grove residents packed a city council meeting to learn more about the plant project, and some in attendance expressed opposition to the project on equine welfare, environmental, and other grounds. On March 12 the prospective developers met with local residents to discuss the proposed plant; however, during that meeting Unified Equine Chief Executive Officer and Wyoming State Rep. Sue Wallis announced that the company had decided not to locate the plant at the Twin Cities site.

"That particular building has been ruled out primarily because of the cost of retrofitting it to be a meat processing facility," Wallis said. "Also, the location is not ideal for a number of reasons."

Wallis said the decision regarding the Twin Cities site was made in advance of the March 12 meeting and that United Equine is examining other potential plant sites in Missouri