Washington, D.C.-The Fertilizer Institute (TFI) President Ford B. West on June 20 joined Reps. John Peterson (R-Pa.), Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii), Thelma Drake (R-Va.), Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), Chet Edwards (D-Texas) and Charlie Melancon (D-La.) in announcing the introduction of the National Environment and Energy Development (NEED) Act. “If the legislation becomes law, it would expand U.S. supplies of natural gas and that would be of great value to U.S. fertilizer companies, the farmers they serve and consumers who rely on us to produce a safe and abundant supply of food, feed, fuel and fiber,” said West. “It is a ‘win-win’ for our nation’s economy and for the environment ?Çô by bringing critically-needed natural gas supply to U.S. consumers, and at the same time directing the revenue from the natural gas royalties to states for environmental restoration.” The NEED Act lifts congressional prohibition on domestic production of natural gas and dedicates tens of billions of dollars in the royalties collected to several nationally-recognized environmental projects, including renewable energy and carbon sequestration research, and environmental restoration of the Great Lakes, Chesapeake and San Francisco Bays, Florida Everglades and Colorado River Basin. The bill will also distribute a significant percentage of royalties collected to participating states and the federal treasury. Noting that natural gas represents 70-90 percent of the cost of production on one ton of anhydrous ammonia, West said the “the U.S. fertilizer industry has been the ‘poster child’ for our nation’s natural gas crisis ?Çô artificially created by government control over the supply and demand for natural gas.” TFI noted that the U.S. fertilizer industry has permanently closed 25 nitrogen manufacturing facilities in the past six years, representing approximately 42 percent of the country’s nitrogen manufacturing capacity. As a result, more than one-half of the nitrogen fertilizer used today by U.S. farmers comes from imported sources, TFI said.
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