Iowa legislators have joined the debate over the $3.6 billion deal in which Koch Industries Inc. would buy OCI Global’s Iowa Fertilizer Co., which has a nitrogen plant in Wever (GM Dec. 22, 2023). They follow Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand’s opposition to the deal (GM Feb. 2, p. 1), as well as that of some 18 agriculture and environmental groups (GM Jan. 26, p. 1).
“I am highly concerned about the $550 million in taxpayer incentives that were given away to increase competition in the fertilizer market that may now serve to the benefit of one of the largest players in that industry,” Iowa Representative Elinor Levin (D) told Green Markets. “Monopolies hurt Iowans, and our job is to help make Iowans’ lives better. We are simply asking other entities, including our AG, to do the job they are authorized to do by investigating the deal.”
Levin, along with Rep. J.D. Scholten (D), also weighed in with KBUR news radio in a Feb. 6 broadcast. “Ask any rowcrop farmer and fertilizer is one of the number one costs they’ll bring up as an issue,” Scholten said in the broadcast. “This issue is not new and this is what Governor Branstad did when he gave tax breaks to Iowa Fertilizer Co. over 10 years ago to create competition in the market.”
On the other side of the debate, Iowa State Senator Jeff Reichman (R) issued a statement to local media saying he was personally excited by the deal.
“Only ivory tower liberals would object to an American company purchasing a plant from an Egyptian company,” he said, adding that Koch Industries has a history of growth and investment that should be cause for excitement in southeast Iowa. He said Auditor Sand’s position was grandstanding and a slap in the face to southeast Iowa.
“Rob Sand is so beholden to the crazy coastal liberals obsessed with Koch Industries, he had to pander to them by opposing the sale of the fertilizer plant from OCI to Koch Industries,” Reichman said. “In the process, he showed he’s just another run-of-the-mill liberal despite his attempts to cast himself as something different.”
“Democrats have always opposed the fertilizer plant because they want to put government first, no matter how many jobs the project created,” Reichman added. He said their opposition to the plant contributed to them losing every legislative seat in southeast Iowa since construction started.