June 17, 2016
CapitalPress.com
7
Work underway on Idaho fertilizer facility
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
POCATELLO, Idaho —
Oficials at a June 8 ground-
breaking ceremony for a new
Valley Agronomics fertilizer
distribution center lauded the
project as a rare example of
redevelopment occurring in
conjunction with an environ-
mental cleanup.
Valley Agronomics, a re-
gional agronomy cooperative
based in Rupert, Idaho, is in-
vesting $10 million to build
what will be Idaho’s largest
fertilizer distribution facility
on the 12 acres. The location
is a federal Superfund site
where FMC Corp. operated
the world’s largest elemental
phosphate plant until 2001.
Idaho Gov. Butch Otter
suggested naming the plant
grounds the “Phoenix Site,”
as a new economic opportu-
nity for the state has “risen
John O’Connell/Capital Press
Construction workers build a pit June 8 where trains will unload
dry fertilizer at a new Valley Agronomics distribution facility near
Pocatello, Idaho, at the former FMC site.
from the ashes.”
“The saddest day was
when I heard that the FMC
plant was going to be shut
down and decommissioned,”
Otter said. “Who would have
believed here we are 15 or 16
years later celebrating a whole
new opportunity, in fact a
whole new venture, with great
promise at that same site to-
day?”
It will be the 14th loca-
tion and largest investment to
date for Valley Agronomics,
which has about $200 million
in annual sales of agronomy
inputs and services. Valley
Agronomics General Man-
ager Richard Lloyd said the
beneits of the location out-
weighed the hassle of dealing
with a Superfund site. Lloyd
explained it will be Idaho’s
only fertilizer distribution
facility capable of receiving
“unit trains” — complete
trains all loaded with fertil-
izer, which are far more ef-
icient for the railroad than
sending individual cars. Be-
cause FMC already had unit
train infrastructure in place,
Lloyd said the freight savings
— between $30 and $50 per
ton — will be passed along to
grower-members. Lloyd said
his company stands to save $2
million in construction costs.
Valley Agronomics is
also one of the largest buy-
ers of fertilizer from J.R.
Simplot, and the FMC site
is adjacent to Simplot’s Don
phosphate plant.
Valley Agronomics project
manager Sid Jensen said the
site is “ideally located to sup-
port a large, rapidly growing
customer base.”
Despite the timing of the
ceremonial groundbreaking,
construction of the plant
has been underway for more
than two months. The dry
fertilizer storage building,
which will have a 26,000-
ton capacity, is already be-
ginning to take shape, and
excavation is ongoing of a
dry fertilizer receiving pit,
with an 800-ton-per-hour
capacity. The facility will
unload up to 300 tons of fer-
tilizer per hour into trucks
for shipping, including to
customers and other regional
Valley Agronomics locations
that lack rail access.
Phase one of the project
— the dry storage infrastruc-
ture — will involve 70 con-
struction workers and should
be complete by November.
Phase two entails building a
tank farm with 3 million gal-
lons of liquid fertilizer storage
and a shop, and phase three
includes an ofice and seed
warehouse. The plant will em-
ploy about 50 full- and part-
time workers.
FMC, which has been in-
volved in cleanup since its
plant closed, plans to have
contaminated areas capped
by the end of the year and a
shallow aquifer below the site
treated during 2017.
“In 2001, when FMC de-
commissioned its elemental
phosphorous plant, we made
a commitment FMC would
remediate and redevelop the
property for the beneit of all
southeast Idaho, and I’m so
glad that’s what we’re here
today to celebrate,” said FMC
Vice President Barry Craw-
ford.
Washington Farm Bureau’s support for coal terminal heats up
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Agriculture’s stake in a
coal company’s proposal
to build an export terminal
along the Lower Columbia
River has increased in recent
weeks, according to Washing-
ton Farm Bureau CEO John
Stuhlmiller.
The state Department of
Ecology’s tentative plan to
hold the company responsible
for greenhouse gases emitted
in Asia should concern pro-
ducers, Stuhlmiller said Fri-
day.
“It infuses an extra con-
straint on an export facility
based on the product that’s
being exported,” he said.
“That’s what we object to
most vigorously.”
The Farm Bureau has long
supported a plan by Millenni-
um Bulk Terminals to build a
dock at an abandoned indus-
trial site near Longview.
The organization argues
that the terminal would in-
crease the state’s capacity to
export bulk materials, includ-
Don Jenkins/Capital Press
Washington Farm Bureau CEO John Stuhlmiller, left, talks with
Millennium Bulk Terminals Vice President Peter Bennett Oct. 19,
2015, at the industrial site where the company proposes to build a
coal export terminal. Stuhlmiller warns that a state report imposing
climate change-related requirements on Millennium sets a danger-
ous precedent for exporters.
ing farm goods.
If coal exports drop off in
the future, Millennium’s ter-
minal could be a new outlet
for other exports, taking pres-
sure off crowded ports, Stuhl-
miller said.
The Farm Bureau has
accepted BNSF Railway’s
assurances that adding coal
trains to its mainline will not
hinder moving agricultural
goods, Stuhlmiller said.
The project, irst proposed
in 2012, reached a milestone
in May when DOE released
a draft environmental im-
pact statement, a preliminary
report on what Millennium
must do to eliminate or min-
25-2/#4n
imize the terminal’s effect on
rail lines, shipping lanes and
water and air quality.
The report also warned
about climate change.
DOE decided to hold Mil-
lennium responsible for the
greenhouse gases that Asian
power plants would emit by
consuming U.S. coal.
Millennium must submit a
plan to slash the project’s car-
bon footprint by 50 percent.
The carbon-reduction goals
are at the high end of vari-
ous scenarios of how much
additional greenhouse gases
would be emitted if the termi-
nal were built.
DOE calls the requirement
reasonable and appropriate,
given that the Legislature and
Gov. Jay Inslee have set car-
bon-reduction goals.
Stuhlmiller warned agri-
culture could ind itself facing
novel requirements if activists
oppose exported products,
such as genetically engi-
neered foods or foods seen as
unhealthful.
“Public opinion can sway
on a whim,” he said. “It
should scare anybody who
wants to build a facility going
forward.”
The Farm Bureau emailed
a “call to action” Friday, ask-
ing members to submit a short
form letter to DOE in support
of the project.
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