CHS Inc. and Hamilton Farm Bureau (HFB), a cooperative headquartered in Hamilton, Mich., have signed a letter of understanding to explore a formal business partnership. If approved, the two companies will join forces to enhance agricultural services to producers and consumers within the western Michigan trade territory now served by HFB.

A proposed business agreement is currently being discussed at HFB member meetings and will be voted on by its 170 Class A stockholders in April. Bob Fenton, HFB president and CEO, told Green Markets the results of that vote will be in by 5 p.m. EST on April 29.

Fenton said all the feedback he’s received so far from shareholders regarding the merger is favorable. “Combining our resources with those of CHS offers Michigan farmers all the purchasing and marketing advantages of a global company,” he said. “Our farmers will become owners of one of the most successful agribusinesses in North America. It will be exciting to see the CHS profits generated in Michigan returned to Michigan farmers to enhance their farm operations.”

Tessenderlo Kerley Inc. (TKI) and Gary-Williams Energy Corp. (GWEC), along with GWEC’s Wynnewood Refining Co. (WRC) in Wynnewood, Okla., announced on March 16 that they have entered into a long-term agreement to expand the refinery’s sulfur processing capability.

According to Ken Gagon, TKI’s group vice president of operations and technical services, TKI will design, construct, own, and operate the new sulfur processing plant and manage GWEC/WRC’s existing sulfur processing assets. The new sulfur processing plant will produce ammonium thiosulfate (Thio-Sul®) for TKI’s markets. TKI said Wynnewood will join a number of selected refinery locations in North America, “where TKI and the refineries enjoy a long association of meeting the goals of both organizations.”

“We welcome the opportunity to form a long-term relationship which provides efficient and reliable sulfur processing for GWEC/WRC and will allow us to expand our supply efforts in meeting the demand for sulfur-based nutrient solutions,” said Jordan Burns, CEO of TKI.

GWEC is an independent oil and gas company headquartered in Denver, Colo., with operations primarily in the Mid-Continent region. Refining and wholesale marketing are the company’s primary businesses. The WRC refinery produces gasoline, diesel fuel, military jet fuel, solvents, and asphalt.

“We believe TKI’s proven expertise in providing reliable sulfur processing plant performance, coupled with expansion of our sulfur processing capacity, will significantly enhance our environmental programs,” said Ron Williams, president and CEO of GWEC.

Headquartered in Phoenix, Ariz., TKI produces and markets specialty chemical solutions, including fertilizers, crop protection chemicals, and process chemicals and services, to diverse markets in the U.S., Mexico, Central and South Americas, and selected European countries and the United Kingdom. TKI operates 10 manufacturing plants in North America, in addition to an extensive terminal network.

TKI is a subsidiary of the Tessenderlo Group, an international chemicals group with more than 100 branches in 20 countries. Headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, the group is a world and European leader in most of its product areas. Tessenderlo Chemie NV is listed on Eurolist by Euronext Brussels and is part of Next 150 and BEL Mid.

Israel’s Finance Ministry is suing Dead Sea Works for $291 million plus interest for the back payment of royalties from the company for the production of potash at the Dead Sea. The Finance Ministry confirmed to Green Markets that a civil suit was filed by the office of the accountant general, the state attorney’s office, and a leading private law firm.

The Finance Ministry charges that Dead Sea Works, a subsidiary of Israel Chemicals Ltd. (ICL), the country’s largest chemical concern, failed to transfer to the ministry all data pertaining to the mining operations of potash under the terms of the company’s concession. The ministry said that this prevented it from presenting the court with an exact amount in the suit that pertains to royalties from 2000-2009.

The Finance Ministry initially said that the state treasury was owed $115 million in royalties. However, the ministry asked for a recalculation last year by Professor Haim Ben Shahar, a leading economist who has his own economic consulting service. The suit is based on the recent assessment.

The breakdown of royalties for potash and bromine production is as follows: $145 million for bromine, $45 million for potash, and $76 million in royalties from indirect potash sales to third parties. The rest is interest for the period 2000-2009.

The suit is part of the government’s policy to enforce the royalty agreements on natural resources. The suit comes in the midst of a lengthy arbitration process between ICL and the Israeli government. The Finance Ministry made it clear during that process that it plans to raise the royalty level on potash and magnesium from 5 percent to 10 percent on all production above 3 million tons starting in 2010.

In response, ICL said it is studying the suit and weighing its options, including presenting a counter suit against the government. ICL has denied any wrongdoing and rejects claims that it owes the state money. The company said it has used the same accounting practices that were employed when ICL was state owned and that were accepted by the Finance Ministry.

Israeli Finance Ministry officials said that the suit is the first stage of the arbitration process. The agreed-upon arbitration is for an arbitrator for each side and a third party who has to be agreed to by ICL and the Finance Ministry.

A past attempt to appoint an arbitrator was unsuccessful. The two sides had agreed to the appointment of former Finance Ministry director general Aharon Fogel. However in November 2010 Finance Ministry accountant general Shuki Oren objected to Fogel because of his connections with Nir Gilad, a former senior Finance Ministry official who served under Fogel and who is now the CEO of Israel Corp., which holds a majority stake in ICL.

In other news, ICL has signed an agreement with a syndicate of 17 banks for a $675 million five-year credit line. Most of the banks are foreign, including banks from North America, Europe, and Israel. The company said in its statement that $225 million of the credit line will bear interest of LIBOR+0.8 percent, and on the additional amounts the interest rate of LIBOR+0.15-0.3 percent.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management on March 11 published in the Federal Register its final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) regarding Monsanto’s proposed controversial Blackfoot Bridge Mine in Southeast Idaho’s Caribou County.

The BLM’s final EIS calls for expanding a $25 million liner, enhancing a water management system, improving monitors, and committing to a 120-acre mule deer winter habitat in the Soda Springs vicinity. Monsanto added $10 million in design improvements for the final EIS. A Record of Decision approving the new open pit mine can be issued no sooner than 30 days after the EIS is published and public comments can be made.

Monsanto hopes to start mining operations at the new site this summer to provide phosphate for its 60-year-old, three-furnace Soda Springs elemental phosphorus plant, where Roundup herbicide is manufactured.

The mine would be 10 miles northeast of Soda Springs and about 600 feet from the Blackfoot River, which has been listed under the Clean Water Act as selenium-impaired. It is one of three mines under consideration in the Blackfoot River watershed, including Agrium’s Rasmussen Valley Mine and the J.R. Simplot Co.’s Dairy Syncline Mine.

The Monsanto mine would disturb about 740 acres and be 10 percent on BLM land and 90 percent on private land. It is estimated that its source of phosphate ore could keep the Soda Springs plant supplied for more than 15 years. Groundwater monitoring wells would surround it.

About 6,800 comments were submitted in response to the draft EIS released in August 2009, with most expressing support for the project. Private citizens, state and regional conservation organizations, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Idaho Department of Environmental Quality officials have provided input.

In the final EIS, the BLM said use of an advanced geo-synthetic clay liner laminate needed to be expanded to contain selenium-containing overburden or waste rock and prevent water from contacting it. Selenium-tainted water will be captured onsite and not discharged unless it meets state and federal water quality standards.

Individual sources of water will be managed to ensure compliance with water quality standards and maximize the amount of clean water returned into the watershed. Surface water and water collected under overburden piles will be captured and tested. If the water exceeds standards, it will be retained on site.

A dense mat of vegetation will cover the site to create a “moisture storing” layer to further isolate the waste rock. Monsanto officials say the mine’s water management system will be the most sophisticated, flexible monitoring ever proposed for a phosphate mine.

Jeff Cundick, the BLM minerals branch chief in Pocatello who oversees phosphate projects on the Caribou-Targhee National Forest, said Monsanto managed to submit an acceptable plan when needed protective measures were included. Mining below the water table is no longer planned.

Monsanto’s first phosphate mine opened in 1952, and it has operated three subsequent mines. The company employs 770 people, 375 who work directly for P4 Production LLC, Monsanto’s wholly-owned subsidiary, and 395 who work for subcontractors engaged in mining, plant maintenance, security and other directly related jobs, making Monsanto’s operations the largest of Caribou County’s phosphate mining and processing operations.

Monsanto’s annual payroll and benefits paid in 2010 totaled nearly $29 million. Annual mineral royalties paid to federal and state governments amounted to $1.3 million.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) effort to implement a Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) rule was the focus of critical testimony on March 16 before members of the Subcommittee on Conservation Energy and Forestry of the House Committee on Agriculture.

Tom Hebert, a senior advisor to the Agricultural Nutrient Policy Council (ANPC), brought conflicts between EPA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to the lawmakers’ attention, focusing on a public report commissioned by ANPC that highlights differences between EPA’s and USDA’s estimates of agriculture’s contribution to nutrient pollution in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

According to The Fertilizer Institute (TFI), one of ANPC’s members, the report commissioned by ANPC (GM Dec. 13, 2010) found EPA’s baseline sediment loads were almost three times the size of USDA’s. In his testimony, Hebert noted that this may be due to EPA’s assumption that half the crop acres in the Bay are being plowed, while USDA data says at least 88 percent are in conservation tillage. Additionally, the study found that EPA’s nitrogen estimates are about 25 percent lower than USDA’s, and EPA’s phosphorus loads are 25 percent higher than USDA’s.

“In terms of sediment and phosphorus, this comparison could be interpreted to mean that agriculture has already met its TMDL obligations and in the case of nitrogen it would indicate that in absolute terms agriculture can meet EPA’s TMDL load allocation,” Hebert said. “But the real bottom line is that these differences are so substantial that the need for further work on the TMDL is apparent.”

“Farmers are willing to continue doing their part to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, but these actions will require significant resources,” said Rod Snyder, director of public policy with the National Corn Growers Association and an ANPC steering committee member. “If EPA bases its regulatory decisions on flawed modeling, we risk investing time and money in areas with limited environmental benefit. This is bad for the farm economy and bad for the Bay.”

“If a faulty model means that EPA misses the mark on what’s required of agriculture, producers and agribusinesses across the region can’t wait another five years for them to get it right,” said Lisa Kelley, vice president of government affairs and chief of staff of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives and an ANPC steering committee member. “If it turns out that EPA’s assessment was wrong, tens of millions of dollars will have been wasted for little or no environmental benefit.”

“With pressure on federal and state government resources at an all-time high, it makes no sense at all for EPA to impose the Chesapeake Bay TMDL before it knows it has accurate impact data,” said Bill Hertz, TFI vice president of scientific programs and an ANPC steering committee member.

Also testifying at the hearing were Dave White, chief of USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service; Bob Perciasepe, EPA deputy administrator; Doug Domenech, Virginia’s secretary of natural resources; Carl Shaffer, president of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau; Lynne Hoot, executive director of the Maryland Association of Soil Conservation Districts; and Hobey Bauhan, president of the Virginia Poultry Federation.