"Under a federal order to upgrade its wastewater treatment plant, Buffalo, Mo., residents approved a $3.4 billion bond two years ago fully anticipating that its largest employer -- and its largest water user -- would repay the bulk of that loan.

But Petit Jean Poultry shut down in October 2008, months before the upgrade was completed. And the town, which has fewer than 2,500 households, was left to pay back the bond minus about 500 jobs."

Peter Urban reports for Greenwire March 30, 2010. [2]