NEOSHO, MO. ? One of the nation’s top egg producers has scrapped plans for a processing plant in southeast Kansas because of opposition against it, a company spokesman said Friday.

Missouri-based Moark had planned to build a plant to house up to 3.2 million chickens in rural Cherokee County, but area residents and public officials spoke out against the venture.

Dan Hudgens, Moark’s Midwest regional manager, told Joplin, Mo., television station KOAM that it appears that southeast Kansas was not interested in economic development. That statement was partly based on recent votes by Baxter Springs and Galena city commissioners opposing the plant, he said.

Kansas Sen. Jim Barone, D-Frontenac, said the area was more interested in higher paying jobs that are environmentally friendly, and called Hudgens’ comments “a cheap shot from habitual offenders.”

Once they heard about plans for the plant, Cherokee County residents started conducting meetings where they voiced concerns about the potential pollution of farmland and water sources. The Cherokee County Health Department said the facility would pollute the Spring River, and the Baxter Springs City Council, Galena City Commission and Riverton School Board all took positions against Moark’s plans.

It’s not the first time the company abandoned plans to move into an area after a public outcry. The same thing happened in Welch, Okla., last summer when the firm wanted to build a $20 million production plant there.