Pacific Coast Fertilizer (PCF), Houston, expects to have a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) ready during the first quarter of 2019 for its proposed $1 billion mid-scale plant that would produce 1,500 mt/d of anhydrous ammonia near Longview, Wash. PCF had originally planned to have the draft EIS prepared this past summer, with the final EIS wrapped up by the end of this year.
“Our hope is to turn that final document around as soon as possible, however, take time to make sure it is accurate and thorough,” PCF spokesman David Richey told Green Markets, referring to the project’s final EIS. “We’re spending time working through the project plan, making sure the facility will be built to protect communities and the environment. It’s been going well.”
During the scoping process, PCF has been working closely with citizens, stakeholder groups, and elected officials to determine what a draft EIS should include, examining and analyzing potential effects. Richey said there has been enthusiasm for the project both locally and statewide, adding that Kelso/Longview union building trades and Lower Columbia College have been especially supportive.
After the final EIS is completed following several public comment events, the project’s construction schedule will be firmed up. Construction had been targeted to begin in 2019 and be finished by late 2021 or early 2022. “We hope to continue with that existing time frame,” Richey said, noting that the plant will be designed to withstand earthquakes.
Up to 1,000 construction workers will be directly employed, in addition to many indirect jobs created by the project. When the plant is fully functioning, 100 permanent employees will work there.
“With its industrial heritage, Longview has the workers with the skills and services Pacific Coast Fertilizer will need,” Richey said.
More than a year ago the Longview City Council unanimously approved Pacific Coast’s purchase of 53 acres of the Mint Farm Industrial Park for the project (GM May 17, 2017). The property was developed two decades ago by the city and Weyerhaueser, one of the world’s largest owners of timber land. Its advantages include good water supply and discharge systems, access to the Columbia River and Pacific Coast, and proximity to a Williams Northwest pipeline that would provide natural gas essential to the production of nitrogen-based fertilizers such as anhydrous ammonia.
Richey said product will be trucked to agricultural markets in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and possibly northern California, but none of it will be hauled by rail. Monthly shipments by barge also could be sent to overseas customers.
PCF said Pacific Northwest farmers have been paying premium costs of $150 to $200 a ton more for anhydrous ammonia than their Gulf Coast counterparts. About 80 percent of it is shipped by rail from Canadian producers, with the rest coming via the Panama Canal by ship from Trinidad, some 6,000 miles away.
“Farmers in the region are very aware of the burden they must pay in high annual fertilizer costs,” said Richey.
PCF has chosen Saipem, an Italian oil and gas industry contractor, as its Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contractor, partnering with JH Kelly, a Longview industrial mechanical contractor. Haldor Topsoe and Saturn Gas Chemicals remain development partners, but Richey said Ferrostaal of Germany is no longer involved in the project.