Midwest Fertilizer Co. LLC, which has been seeking to build a $2.8 billion nitrogen complex in Posey County, Ind., confirmed on March 20 that it has resolved a dispute with the IRS over the taxability of $1.26 billion in Midwestern Disaster Area Bonds (GM Jan. 12, 2018).
“Midwest Fertilizer is extremely pleased to have resolved the issue with the IRS, which results in no change to the tax-exempt status of the project bonds,” said Roger Harvey, company spokesman. “We remain focused on moving forward with our plans for the state-of-the-art fertilizer manufacturing complex in Posey County, Indiana. The wonderful support from the State of Indiana and the Posey County Commissioners has been tremendous and much appreciated.”
At last report, the complex was expected to produce 2 million mt/y of ammonia, UAN, and diesel exhaust fluid (DEF). The company updated its permits in early 2017 (GM Feb. 3, 2017), which at that time included plans for a 1,320 mt/d urea granulation plant, a 2,640 mt/d urea synthesis plant, a 5,160 mt/d UAN plant, a 2,400 mt/d ammonia plant, a 1,840 mt/d nitric acid plant, three UAN tanks up to 40,000 mt, two ammonia tanks up to 30,000 mt, one nitric acid tank up to 8,000 mt, one DEF tank up to 7,000 mt, and one OASE solution/methyl dietharolamine (MDEA) tank at 395,000 gallons.
The facility would be located on 220 acres in Posey County – where Mount Vernon is the county seat – to serve farmers throughout Indiana and the Midwest.
The project, planned since 2012, has encountered other obstacles and delays. In 2013, then-Gov. Mike Pence suspended state support for the project, citing concerns with Pakistan’s Fatima Group, the company’s lead investor (GM May 20, 2013). Pence later said he would not prevent Posey County from pursuing the project (GM June 24, 2013) and reopened talks with Midwest Fertilizer.