A potato chip factory that was supposed to generate jobs and revenue on the White Earth Reservation in Minnesota sits idle, two years after it was completed.

The $8.5 million Mahnomen Baked Chips plant was built with $2 million in federal tax credits. The city of Mahnomen donated land for the project and the state extended a loan to the developers.

But technological challenges have delayed production of the world's first baked stacked chips. And there were questions about the background of one of the investors, who has pulled out of the project.

"I am still hopeful for the reservation," Dean Johnson, the development director for the tribe, told The Minneapolis Star Tribune. "It would be a very good project for us, and employ a lot of people."

The plant was supposed to create 39 jobs.

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No chips, no jobs as plant sits idle (The Minneapolis Star Tribune 9/7)