MOUNT VERNON, Ind. — Midwest Fertilizer Co. expects to break ground in 2018 on a $2.8 billion nitrogen fertilizer production facility, according to the company’s president and CEO.

 

Construction on the plant in Posey County in southwestern Indiana will take four years, Les Wright said. The company plans to create 185 high-paying jobs by the end of 2021; about 2,500 are expected to be needed during the construction phase.

The plant will produce about 2 million tons of ammonia, urea ammonium nitrate solution and diesel exhaust fluid – a diesel engine additive – yearly. The 220-acre site has access to natural gas, waterways and railroads, Wright noted.

Midwest expects to distribute its products within 200 miles of the facility.

"This is an excellent location for nitrogen fertilizer production,” he explained. “It’s in the heartland of the Eastern Corn Belt. Corn is the most nitrogen-utilizing crop in the United States; it requires a large amount of nitrogen.”

The project is one of the largest fertilizer manufacturing investments in the country in more than 20 years, the Indiana Economic Development Corp. (IEDC) stated.

“From regional investments to our longterm plan for improving the state’s network of roads and bridges, Indiana is an active partner with the business community in supporting economic growth,” Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb said. “I offer my enthusiastic support for Midwest Fertilizer’s plans to advance in southwest Indiana, and I look forward to seeing increased high-quality job opportunities for Hoosiers.”

The facility will have an annual economic impact in the region of about $1 billion, said Brittaney Johnson, executive director of the Posey County Economic Development Partnership.

“It’s definitely an economic boon for the county, especially with a number of smaller vendors that might follow,” she noted. “These will be high-paying jobs. They’re predicting a $42 per-hour wage for an average salary. The state average is $21.52, so it’s about double.”

Midwest Fertilizer announced the facility in late 2012. The following May, then- Gov. Mike Pence withdrew state incentives for the project. Midwest is owned by multinational investors, including Pakistan-based Fatima Group.

The governor’s office said Pence made the decision after testimony from a U.S. Department of Defense official to the Senate that Fatima had been “less than cooperative in efforts to reduce the improvised explosive device threat in Central and South Asia.” 

 

In April 2014, Pence said he reopened discussions with the company after U.S. officials reported the government of Pakistan and Fatima Group provided “an unprecedented level of cooperation and transparency” in addressing any concerns.

“Specifically, U.S. Department of Defense officials have confirmed that an experimental formula is being developed by Fatima Group to be more inert and less-detonable to limit its usefulness to extremists and terrorists,” he explained. “The state of Indiana was informed that our defense experts completed the second series of tests on the experimental formula and described Fatima Group’s efforts to improve the safety of its fertilizer as ‘commendable.’”

Public support has been critical for the project, said Greg Wathen, president and CEO of the Economic Development Coalition of Southwest Indiana. “The support from Posey County has never waned.

They’ve been troupers. Given all the challenges early on, the company wouldn’t have stayed with it had there not been vocal support from the community.”

The IEDC has offered Midwest Fertilizer conditional tax credits up to $2.9 million and training grants up to $400,000 based on the company’s job creation plans. The company was also offered up to $300,000 in conditional incentives by IEDC from the Hoosier Business Investment tax credit, based on the company’s planned investment.