The Louisiana Board of Commerce and Industry on Oct. 25 approved significant tax breaks for American Plant Food (APF) and CF Industries Holdings Inc. for new projects, and a request by Nutrien Ltd. to push back the date of its Geismar expansion by three years.
APF will receive a first-year break of $3.66 million under the Industrial Tax Exemption Program (ITEP). The investment in the 420,000 st/y ammonium sulfate complex was put at $228 million. The project will be sited in Jefferson Parish at Cornerstone Chemical Co.’s 800-acre Cornerstone Energy Park at Waggaman, La. (GM April 7, p. 1; Oct. 28, 2022). APF will source ammonia for the plant from Incitec Pivot Ltd.’s (IPL) Waggaman ammonia plant, which CF is seeking to purchase, and sulfuric acid from Cornerstone.
The Board unanimously approved APF’s request despite opposition from some local residents who had complained that the number of employees for the project had varied over time, according to nola.com, having gone from 100 at the time the project was announced, then down to 13 and now the current 28. However, APF explained the project would be built in phases and the company believed it would eventually move up to 100.
CF received a first-year exemption of $29.4 million on its $2 billion investment in Ascension Parish (GM Aug. 19, 2022). The project is expected to employ 50 and produce 1.7 million t/y of blue ammonia.
The Board also approved Nutrien’s request to move the commencement of operations for its proposed Geismar expansion from March 31, 2027, to March 31, 2030. Nutrien said in August that it was suspending work on the 1.2 million mt/y Geismar clean ammonia project (GM Aug. 4, p. 1).
Nutrien told the Board that it has encountered unanticipated challenges during the project resulting from supply chain delays, higher inflation, interest rates, and anticipated resource availability, as well as market downturns that have forced it to reevaluate the initial timeline.
“We have currently invested more than $100 million in the project and are actively pursuing permits required to commence construction,” Nutrien said. “At the conclusion of our project, using current estimates, we will have spent over $2 billion, created more than 35 new jobs, and expanded our annual payroll and state spend by millions of dollars. The project is still expected to meet our investment amount, new job, and new payroll ITEP compliance requirements.”