Engro Corp. CEO Asad Umar will take early retirement. The company said his successor is expected to be announced by the end of April.
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Helena opens new $15 M Indiana terminal
Huntington, Ind. — Helena Chemical Co. staged a grand opening headlined by Indiana Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman Tuesday, April 17, for a new $15 million-plus high-capacity fertilizer terminal and distribution center strategically located in an industrial park east of Huntington. Helena officials say the new facility will service the company’s retail locations in Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan, and also act as a distribution center for Helena products. Fertilizer products that will be run through the facility include potash, ammonium sulfate, pelletized lime, MAP, and DAP, along with distribution of Helena products such as CoRoN, Hydra-Hume, and the TraFix line. Doug Goff, Helena division manager in Carmel, Ind., explained, “To serve our customers better with the products they need to grow profitable, productive crops, we needed a centralized, easily accessible location within a day’s drive of our branches in Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. This site also has a rail siding (Norfolk Southern) that can deliver bulk fertilizer and easy access to state Highway 24 for our distribution network. The terminal can store up to 70,000 tons of product, and the Park 24 industrial park has plenty of room to expand as our business grows.” Goff’s division is part of Helena’s northern business unit, which is one of four such units in the U.S. For starters, the plant will have nine employees, with the potential for 15 in the future. Helena, Collierville, Tenn., was formed in 1957, and is one of the country’s largest national distributors of crop production inputs and services.
Whitebox takes 9.5 percent stake in PHI
Minneapolis — Whitebox Advisors LLC and associated companies have procured a 9.5 percent stake in Phosphate Holdings Inc., (PHI) the owner of Mississippi Phosphates Corp., according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. PHI, which released earnings this week, has been reviewing strategic options for some time. Whitebox, led by long-time investor Andrew Redleaf, specializes in identifying market inefficiencies across markets and capital structures for hedge fund investors. Redleaf is also the founder and CEO of Whitebox Mutual Funds.
Intrepid releases preliminary results
Denver — Intrepid Potash Inc. released preliminary results for the first quarter ending March 31, 2012, reflecting potash sales of 200-210,000 st, up from the year-ago 196,000 st. Production, however, was down, at 215-225,000 st from the year-ago 234,000 st. Average net realized prices were up, at $470-$480/st from $442/st. Intrepid estimates that its cash cost of goods sold for potash for the quarter, net of by-product credits, was $190-$200/st. Trio sales were off at 25-30,000 st from the year-ago 52,000 st, while production was about the same at 30-35,000 st versus 31,000 st. Intrepid said it sales were limited by production and low inventory levels as demand was strong, as were prices, which were up at $295-$305/st from the year-ago $204/st. Intrepid expects improved Trio production once the Dense Media Separation component of the Langbeinite Recovery Improvement Project is fully commissioned in the second quarter of 2012. Intrepid will release earnings May 2.
Organic Plant Health ælocking inÆ Florida
Charlotte, N.C. — Organic Plant Health (OPH) reports the establishment of a solid base throughout Florida with an exclusive but yet unnamed partner to distribute its organic-based fertilizer products. “We’re very excited to begin distribution of Organic Plant Health branded products in the state of Florida through this new distribution channel,” said President and CEO Billy Styles. Styles added that the name of the new Florida partner, which is already placing orders, will be disclosed soon, and indicated that OPH may reach additional agreements with dozens more by the end of the year, including several hardware chain stores and garden centers. Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Alan Talbert told Green Markets that the new distribution partner is expected to begin delivering products into Florida retail and commercial channels by early May. “We also have an expansion plan in place that addresses increasing distribution in Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, and Tennessee,” Talbert noted. Explaining that Florida has several restrictions related to the time of year that fertilizer can be used, as well as the various components of the product, Talbert added, “We’ll provide options for them to improve plant health during times of the year when they normally wouldn’t be able to fertilize.” OPH brand products are currently sold in more than 25 independent retailers across the Carolinas, from Raleigh, N.C., to Greenville, S.C. The company has also established a following with ACE Hardware stores. With 17 stores in the Carolinas and two in Florida, ACE is a target retailer for the company. OPH also provides organic based fertilizer products for turf, trees, shrubs, gardens, and flower and ornamental beds, and describes key customers as typically environmentally conscious do-it-yourself homeowners and commercial landscape companies.
Iowa DNR investigating chemical release
Washington, Iowa — Iowa natural resources officials don’t know yet if there will be charges filed as a result of a release of a mixture of rinse water containing herbicides and other farm chemicals from a fertilizer plant here into a creek. “We’ve had a number of water samples taken, and when we get those results we’ll make a decision,” Kevin Baskin, spokesman for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, told Green Markets. Baskin said the release occurred April 17 at Liqui-Grow on the north side of town when an employee was rinsing out totes containing glyphosate, atrazine, and nitrogen stabilizer in a containment area that apparently filled up. When that happened, the employee pumped the rinse water – estimated between 400 and 500 gallons – out of the containment area onto the ground. The rinse water ran over a gravel parking lot before emptying into a drainage ditch and an intake to the storm sewer, which empties into an unnamed tributary of the South Fork of Long Creek on the southeast side of town. At least one resident reported a strong chemical odor and milky white color in his neighborhood stream that evening. Natural resources investigators traced the spill to the Liqui-Grow fertilizer plant. The next day, Liqui-Grow employees flushed the storm sewer with clean water, collecting contaminated rinse water at the outfall. The company will also plug the storm sewer intake and clean the gravel lot and remainder of the spill area. Residents were advised to avoid the creek for at least 48 hours.
Ammonia releases result in upgrade order
South San Francisco, Calif. — Specialty meats producer Columbus Foods is investing $7 million to change over to an ammonia/glycol refrigeration system under an agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Justice following two releases of anhydrous ammonia in 2009. One release resulted in the evacuation of the plant and several neighboring businesses and sent 17 people to the hospital. The consent decree last Jan. 31 requires Columbus to pay a penalty of $685,446 and convert its refrigeration system to a safer technology, along with improving its alarm and ammonia release notification procedures. Officials with the two agencies stated that the releases were the result of Columbus’ failure of its general duty of care to identify hazards and to maintain a safe facility, and its failure to comply with regulatory requirements for process safety management under the Clean Air Act. The first accidental ammonia release in February 2009 sent 217 pounds of ammonia gases into the atmosphere. Six months later, in August 2009, the plant again released an ammonia cloud – this time approximately 200 pounds – that resulted in one person being hospitalized for four days. In addition, off-ramps from Highway 101 and several local streets were shut down as a result of the release. EPA took action following the August 2009 incident, ordering Columbus to complete initial upgrades to its ammonia refrigeration system, including the replacement of safety relief valves and components with any signs of corrosion, and the proper labeling of all its piping. In 2011, the company paid $850,000 in fines to San Mateo County as a result of the incident. Columbus responded that reconfiguring the ammonia refrigeration system will exceed current EPA Clean Air Act standards and provide increased safety for employees and the community surrounding its plant. The system features state-of-the-art hardware and controls technology, safeguards including secondary containment and an air scrubbing system, and a complex sequence for leak detection, alarm and notification. To further ensure control of the ammonia gases, the refrigeration system and ammonia charge will be fully contained in an enclosed building.
Cleanup at former Va. phosphate plant
Madison Heights, Va. — Crews will immediately begin removing thousands of cubic yards of soil containing arsenic, lead, and other contaminants at a location adjacent to the James River where a fertilizer plant operated prior to 1902 and continuing into the 1960s. “The work is anticipated to take approximately two months and will involve a lot of truck loads,” according to William Lindsay, remediation project manager for the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. He said the plan is to conduct tests on the soil as it is being excavated to determine if it will be taken to a regular solid waste landfill as hazardous waste or to a regular landfill. The project could extend into three months, during which time a riverside trail will remain open and hikers and cyclists will have the right of way. In all, the digging will involve approximately 11,240 cubic yards of soil and sediment, and some reports say approximately 1,000 truck loads will be required for the cleanup. Some of it is going to be left in place below two feet, and the rest replaced with clean fill and capped. Institutional controls will be in place to prevent any digging below the cap. The four-acre site operated as the Virginia-Carolina Chemical Corp. (VCC) phosphate fertilizer plant. ExxonMobil Corp., now designated as the responsible party, submitted a plan for excavation and removal under the state’s voluntary remediation program and arranged for the contractor. Virginia-Carolina entered into bankruptcy in 1924, and at the conclusion of federal reorganization proceedings in 1926 emerged as a new company and continued to own the site. In 1963, VCC merged into Socony Mobil Oil; the company name changed in 1966 to Mobil Oil Co. As Virginia-Carolina, the company produced superphosphate fertilizers.
Research links cadmium to breast cancer
Philadelphia, Pa. — New research from Karolinska Institutet, Stocklholm, suggests that there is a link between breast cancer and dietary cadmium. The results, which are presented online in cancer research supported by the American Association for Cancer Research, are based on data from more than 55,000 women. The article points out that cadmium is released into the environment producing and using phosphate fertilizer, from mining and metal processing operations, burning fuels and disposing of metal products. People living near industry that conducts any of these activities may be exposed to cadmium. The conclusions, however, are regarded as erroneous by The Fertilizer Institute (TFI) which stated that scientific risk assessments (including one from the Environmental Protection Agency) have found that cadmium in fertilizers does not pose a risk to the health of farm soils or to the consumers of products that are grown on those soils. “As an aside, TFI stated, “phosphate manufacturing only releases minute amounts into the atmosphere, so if someone brings that up, there is no real exposure there either.” One of the researchers, Bettina Julin, doctoral student at Karolinska Institutet’s Institute of Environmental Medicine, explained that cadmium concentrations in food are generally quite low and that there are several other scientifically established causes of breast cancer. The study is based on a survey of the dietary habits of 55,987 women in Uppsala and Västmanland carried out in 1987. The researchers estimated how much cadmium the women had ingested with their food on the basis of the cadmium content of every single food item that they ate. Over the 12-year follow-up period, they were able to note 2,112 cases of breast cancer occurring post-menopause. They also discovered importantly that the women who ate mostly wholegrain products (e.g. wholemeal bread) and vegetables were less likely to develop breast cancer than women who had been exposed to cadmium through other sorts of food. The researchers also note, however, that bread and vegetables are the most common sources of dietary cadmium, a fact that complicates the interpretation of the results of their work. We certainly cannot advise women against eating a certain kind of food; indeed, it seems as if wholegrain products and vegetables even provide a degree of protection against cancer," says lead investigator Agneta Åkesson, docent at the Institute of Environmental Medicine. "On the other hand, these findings are interesting given the current debate on what levels of cadmium we’re to accept in our environment, bearing in mind the health hazards it poses."
Dead Sea salt harvest delayed
Tel Aviv — The Israeli government’s committee on national infrastructures has decided to grant Dead Sea Works a delay in harvesting the salt at the Dead Sea. The company was supposed to carry out an immediate project to remove salt as an intermediate step before the large scale project for harvesting salt begins. The committee said that the Dead Sea Works and its parent company, Israel Chemicals (ICL), are moving ahead rapidly on the full scale program and therefore it agreed to forgo the immediate harvesting. However the committee decision did not take into account a legal challenge against the agreement between the government and ICL by the country’s leading environmental lobby, the Israel Union for Environmental Defense (IUED). The IUED is demanding that the agreement with ICL on the salt harvesting be amended charging that it is not in the public interest. The lobby charged the government with "once again giving into one of the country’s most powerful companies at the expense of the public." The IUED demanded that salt harvesting begin immediately to halt continued damage to the environment. Israel’s Supreme Court is due to hear the appeal in the coming weeks. In January the Israeli government approved the agreement with ICL whereby the company would cover 80 percent of the cost of removing the salt from the ponds it uses for potash production at the southern end of the Dead Sea. The government would cover the remainder of the cost which is estimated at $1.1 billion. The removal of the salt is crucial in order to stem the rise of the level of the southern end of the Dead Sea, which threatens hotels located adjacent to the inland sea. Half of the government payment will be offset by indirect payments by the company and raising royalties from 5 to 10 percent on production above 1.5 million tons.