PotashCorp announced Feb. 1 that it will soon begin an 18-month process to restart its anhydrous ammonia plant in Geismar, La. The plant has the capacity to produce 1,500 st/d. It was idled in 2003 due to high natural gas prices (GM Jan. 27, 2003). Since then the company has used imported ammonia to make its other products at Geismar. However, the company explained that natural gas prices are now lower, thereby allowing the plant to return to production.

PotashCorp will be investing $158 million to bring the facility back up. It will hire 33 full-time employees and 13 contractors. The location currently has 210 employees involved in the production of other products, including nitric acid, UAN, urea, and phosphoric acid.

Rumors had circulated in recent weeks that the plant might be coming back up. The company denied reports that it had actually begun production, and reiterated that the process to restart the long-idled plant will take 18 months. Sources were speculating last week that there might be as much as 10,000 st per month of excess ammonia for the market once PotashCorp’s internal production needs are met. The company said this was conceivable, but that it would depend on internal needs.

Lower natural gas prices are also credited with recent news that Pandora Methanol LLC, a unit of Janus Methanol AG, plans to restart the long-idled Beaumont ammonia and methanol plants (GM Jan. 3, 2011). In addition, LSB Industries Inc. says its Pryor, Okla., nitrogen plant is meeting expectations (GM Jan. 10, 2011) as it continues to reach for full production after coming up from several years of dormancy.

Growmark Inc, Bloomington, Ill., has acquired the Little England terminal in East Liverpool, Ohio, from S.H. Bell Company. The property is located northeast of Growmark’s current operation and has direct access to the Ohio River.

The transaction includes a river unloading cell, storage facilities, an office, scale, and crane. Growmark said there will be approximately 11,000 st of dry storage available at the Bell terminal once improvements are completed. There is the capability for another 6,000 st of storage down the road should Growmark decide it is needed.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Rod Wells, director, agronomy sales and operations, said the acquisition will enhance current operations, provide additional storage capacity, and improve overall operational efficiency. “This will also give us another option to offload barges at East Liverpool, which is a high volume facility. Additionally, this will enhance our service to customers and those who are responsible for shipping product by truck from East Liverpool.”

Wells noted the purchase is an additional component of a major upgrade to the East Liverpool facility that began two years ago with the addition of new unloading equipment at the original Ohio River site. The upgrade project continued in 2010 with added automation at the current truck scale facility. Growmark said this debottlenecking of the current barge offloading system will significantly increase offloading speed into the facility once completed.

Growmark is on a roll in the terminal acquisition business, having acquired five others already this year, with one of those at Cincinnati, Ohio, with joint venture partner Bunge North America (GM Jan. 24, p. 1). Four were from CF Industries Holdings Inc. (Albany and Mapleton, Ill., St. Louis, Mo., and Cincinnati) (GM Jan. 10, p. 1), and another from George Lamb (Seneca, Ill.) (GM Jan. 10, p.10).

The monster storm that blanketed 30 states on Feb. 1-2 with heavy snow, ice, hard winds, and frigid cold also took a toll on the movement of fertilizer and agricultural commodities last week. The storm system impacted a third of the U.S. population as it cut a wide swath from New Mexico to New England, crippling agricultural operations across the Midwest and Southern Plains and prompting fears about damage to wheat and citrus crops.

Southern Plains sources reported on Feb. 1 that the Port of Catoosa at Tulsa, Okla., had closed due to more than a foot of snow. Attempts to reach the Port Authority in Tulsa on Feb. 2 were unsuccessful because the office remained closed for a second day due to more than 14 inches of snow accumulation and wind chill temperatures that were expected to plummet to minus 25 degrees at midweek. The port reopened on Feb. 3.

Arkansas River ports at Fort Smith, Ark., and Van Buren, Ark., also closed early Feb. 1 due to severe weather conditions that included subzero wind chills. “This one’s definitely for the record books,” posted one Tulsa resident in response to an online news story Tuesday. “Just about everything that can be closed has been closed.”

Railroads, including Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Norfolk Southern, warned customers of delays due to heavy snow, ice, and extreme cold. The Associated Press reported that nearly 7,000 U.S. flights were canceled on Feb. 1, and another 5,300 flights had been cancelled on Feb. 2 by midmorning. At least 1,900 flights were canceled again on Feb. 3 as airports across the nation tried to get back to normal operations, according to Houston-based FlightAware.

CF Industries Holdings Inc. reported on Feb. 1 that it was experiencing “cold weather issues” in the restart of its No. 1 UAN plant at Woodward, Okla. However, it did not idle because of the storm. The ammonia production facility there had gone down the previous week due to other issues, and the company reported that it had commenced restarting the plant on Jan. 30.

LSB Industries Inc. reported on Feb. 2 that its Pryor, Okla., nitrogen facility had cut back to minimum rates “until transportation can move again,” as a result of the storm. LSB CEO and Chairman Jack Golsen told Green Markets at midweek that “trucks and trains are stuck for now,” but the company expected the facility to return to normal rates by the end of the week.

CVR Energy Inc. confirmed at midweek that its Coffeyville, Kan., nitrogen facility was operating normally throughout the storm.

The DeBruce Companies, now a wholly owned subsidiary of Gavilon LLC, reported that it sent its Kansas City, Mo., employees home at 1 p.m. Tuesday due to worsening weather conditions. The office reopened for normal hours on Feb. 2. The Kansas City area collected 8-12 inches of snow from the storm, with wind chills dropping to minus 15. Attempts to reach the Kansas City Port Authority were unsuccessful on Feb. 2.

During the height of the storm on Feb. 1, Interstate 70 across Missouri was closed nearly from Kansas City to St. Louis due to whiteout conditions and 40 mph winds, the first time in the freeway’s history. The Interstate was reopened on Feb. 2.

One of the storm’s hardest blows hit the Chicago area, where more than 20 inches of snow fell on Feb. 1-2. Calls to several sources in Illinois and Indiana at midweek went unanswered or were greeted with messages that the office had closed due to the storm. Chicago O’Hare reported 20.2 inches of snow by midmorning Wednesday, the third-highest snowfall total in the city’s recorded history after the blizzards of 1967 and 1999.

The weather forced PotashCorp to close its Northbrook, Ill., office on Feb. 2, but the company confirmed on Feb. 3 that its Lima, Ohio, nitrogen facility was unaffected by the storm and was operating normally despite significant power outages in the Lima area.

Power outages from the storm were widespread, and included rolling blackouts in Texas, wind-related outages throughout the Midwest, and ice-related outages in the Northeast. In Ohio alone, more than 200,000 homes and businesses were without power at midweek, while some 123,000 utility customers saw their electricity cut overnight in Chicago on Feb. 1-2

Wind chills in northern Illinois were expected to fall to 20-30 below zero at midweek. In North Dakota, wind chills on Feb. 2 ranged from 35-55 below zero, and in Minnesota wind chill temperatures ranged from 25-35 below zero.

The frigid temperatures and hard winds threatened livestock throughout the Midwest. Reuters reported that work schedules were altered or facilities closed at some eight pork plants in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Missouri, including two Cargill Inc. pork factories in Ottumwa and Beardstown, Iowa. In addition, grain elevators and processors in several midwestern states were shuttered because of the storm, including large facilities operated by Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland Co.

Several Southern Plains sources talked of the threat of winterkill to winter wheat crops as temperatures plummeted and high winds cleared fields of protective snow cover. “This cold weather and wind may ding up some of the exposed hill sides and terrace tops,” said one Kansas source at midweek, but he noted that growers in his trade area remain optimistic overall about how crops look at this point.

Northern Texas sources told Green Markets at midweek that temperatures were down to 1 degree, with wind chills expected to dip to minus 19. Reuters reported that grapefruit and orange crops in Texas could be severely damaged by the bitter cold temperatures, with some estimates predicting that half of normal production from the Rio Grande Valley could be lost.

Snowfall amounts in Boston were expected to range from 12-18 inches by late Wednesday as the storm dealt its final blows. Freezing rain was expected to dump three quarters of an inch of ice on New York City at midweek. Areas of northern New York reportedly received more than a foot of snow from the storm.

Magellan Midstream Partners LP (MMP) reported a 28 percent drop in volumes on its anhydrous ammonia pipeline for the year ending Dec. 31, 2010, to 462,000 st from the prior year’s 643,000 st. Volumes, revenues, and expenses were all impacted by integrity testing performed on the pipeline during the most of the third quarter and part of the fourth quarter of 2010. Magellan says that the testing is 75 percent complete and will resume again in the summer of 2011, when it is not expected to significantly impact volumes.

Magellan CEO Mike Mears was upbeat to analysts about the fortunes of the ammonia pipeline going forward. “While it is by far our smallest business unit, it can be a decent cash flow generator once it is in normal operating mode.” He added, “As a result, we expect to generate an operating margin of close to $5 million in 2011 versus a loss in 2010, with even better results projected thereafter once the hydro test work is complete. But the good news is that we have been pleased overall with the results of this testing and the integrity of this pipeline.”

For the year, MMP’s ammonia pipeline recorded a margin loss of $4.15 million on revenues of $14.9 million, compared to the prior year’s operating margin of $3.67 million on revenues of $19.9 million.

While Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. reported larger losses in the first quarter ending Jan. 1, 2011 than for the year-ago quarter, the company was buoyed by an 11 percent increase in consumer purchases of its branded products at its largest retail partners, as well as 12 percent sales growth in its lawn care business. Scotts says it continues to expect sales growth from continuing operations of 4-6 percent for the fiscal year, with double-digit earnings per share growth.

Scotts said consumer support is broad-based, with positive Point of Sales (POS) growth in 48 states and double-digit POS growth in 34, with Canada and the U.K. also seeing double-digit improvements.

Scotts also noted that for its more sensitive commodities, which include urea, it has locked in more than 60 percent of its costs. Chairman and CEO James Hagedorn told analysts that urea is pretty stable and that he thinks there is a lot of supply on the urea side. He said the company has locked in its own sales prices at a 1-2 percent increase and expects to gain market share this year.

Scotts reiterated that given the seasonal nature of the lawn and garden market, it historically reports a net loss for the fiscal first quarter. First-quarter losses were up 18 percent to $67.9 million ($1.02 per diluted share) on sales of $230.2 million, compared to the year-ago loss of $57.7 million ($.88 per share) on sales of $252.4 million.

There were other reasons for the larger losses, including selling, general, and administrative expenses, which were up 13 percent, to $143.2 million from the year-ago $126.3 million. About half of this increase was due to severance costs, primarily driven by the departure of former President, CEO, and Board Member Mark Baker (GM Nov. 1, 2010), as well as the elimination of a handful of other vice president-level roles, the company told analysts. The company also said it opened two more regional offices and invested in more consumer research.

Hagedorn told analysts that this year it did not have as many debt concerns and had more financial flexibility, so it was able to accelerate some investment to get in front of the season.

Overall, operating losses at its largest segment, Global Consumer, grew 36 percent, to $55.1 million on sales of $188.8 million, versus the year-ago loss of $40.4 million on sales of $214 million. While Scotts LawnService sales were up 12 percent, to $37.1 million from the year-ago $33 million, it was still in the loss column though those results improved 40 percent, to $4.5 million from the year-ago loss of $7.5 million.

Scotts said it is on track to sell the significant majority of its Global Professional business to Israel Chemicals Ltd. for US$270 million (GM Dec. 13, 2010) in the second quarter. The unit was treated as discontinued for the first quarter, reporting first-quarter losses of $1.2 million, an improvement over the year-ago loss of $7.6 million.

In other news, Scotts said it is launching an exclusive line of products, called Garden Pro, for its independent buyers.

U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill on Jan. 28 rejected a lawsuit filed by a coalition of regional and national environmental groups and upheld the Idaho Roadless Rule, which manages the use and protection of about 9.3 million acres of federal public wilderness in the state and allows mining development in Southeast Idaho’s rich phosphate region.

Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter and U.S. Sen. Jim Risch hailed the ruling, which may be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit by Earthjustice, the Wilderness Society, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Lands Council. The groups filed suit in 2009 to reverse the U.S. Forest Service’s approval of the 2008 roadless rule.

Winmill ruled in Boise that the Forest Service did not violate the Endangered Species Act or the National Environmental Policy Act when it decided in favor of Idaho’s Roadless Rule, the first of its kind in the nation, contradicting environmentalists who said it exposes too much land to mining, logging, or other activities they contend are harmful to habitat.

Tim Preso, an attorney for Earthjustice in Bozeman, Mont., said he was disappointed by Winmill’s decision. The Idaho Conservation League, Trout Unlimited, and the Kootenai tribe of northern Idaho supported Idaho’s Roadless Rule. The Obama administration, the state of Idaho, counties, and the Idaho Mining Association also intervened to defend the rule.

Idaho’s acreage is the second largest roadless expanse in the United States, behind only Alaska. Idaho was the only state exempted from U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack’s May 28, 2009, announcement that for at least one year no new roads would be allowed in 49 million acres of national forest without his approval. The Obama administration, however, let the state’s rules for roadless areas stand.

Colorado is the only other state to have its own roadless regulations. Idaho, however, has the largest, most diverse collection of roadless property in the contiguous 48 states. In January 2001 the Clinton administration imposed the federal Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which banned development, logging, and road building on more than 58 million acres of the nation’s 192 million acres of remote national forest land, primarily in the West.

The Bush administration repealed the Clinton rule four years later and gave states the authority to develop their own plans and petition the federal government for approval.

The Idaho rule clears the way for companies to mine and develop phosphate under Forest Service rules on 5,000 acres in Southeast Idaho, which is also home to grizzly bear habitat. It divides acreage into several categories, designating about 3.4 million acres as primitive or wild land recreation, areas off limits to roads, and development. It also sets aside 5.3 million acres as backcountry restoration, a category that allows temporary roads and logging to reduce the threat of wildfire.

Winmill said the Forest Service and other federal agencies still had the authority to have final say on mining projects, although environmentalists argued the Idaho rule restricts the ability of federal officials to objectively study or reject future mining on those lands. There is no “mandatory requirement in the Idaho Roadless Rule that would prevent the Forest Service from rejecting a site-specific road proposal in this area,” Winmill wrote.

Risch, who was Idaho’s governor when the Idaho Roadless Rule was hammered out, said that Winmill’s ruling “is a credit to all the Idahoans who put a great deal of time and effort into crafting the various protections for Idaho lands.”

Following 16 public meetings and comments from thousands of Idahoans and based on local and statewide input, Risch helped create five management themes for Idaho’s 9.3 million roadless acres, including wild land recreation, primitive, back country, and general forest. A special areas category would preserve important tribal and historical sites.

The Idaho plan was unanimously approved by the national Roadless Area Conservation National Advisory Committee in December 2006, and recommended for adoption to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“This is a victory for the collaborative process. This ruling shows that the collaborative process is viable in resolving federal public land disputes at the state level. Idaho has the only roadless rule in the nation developed by a state based on input from the full spectrum of wildland users,” Risch said.

“Rather than a one-size-fits-all plan that changes with each new administration, we have a plan that will manage these areas not only for forest health, but for people to hunt, fish, hike, and for motorized users on appropriate parcels. This is a common sense approach that benefits the land and all Idahoans.”

Otter stated: “I believe this decision closes the chapter on a 40-year controversy and validates a new model for resolving natural resource issues across the West.”

Risch was in attendance in a federal courtroom in Boise when oral arguments were presented Oct. 15 to Winmill. “Senator Risch was willing to testify, but was not asked to,” said Jeremy Field, Risch’s regional director in Pocatello