All Posts from October 16, 2006

Iowa officials unveil anti-meth additive; product based on Yara-supplied calcium nitrate

Iowa has done the testing, found that its meth-inhibiting additive does the job, and is making it available right away to retailers to combine with anhydrous ammonia for farmers to use in the field. With the hoopla of a campaign rally, high-level state and federal officials, joined by industry representatives at a capitol press conference, declared that the additive – actually the commonly used fertilizer calcium nitrate – has completed a six-year, $1.2 million research effort and has been proven to deter thieves by rendering anhydrous virtually useless in making meth.

“The inhibitor can be obtained as soon as someone orders and receives their shipment,” Dale Woolery, spokesman for the governor’s drug control office, told Green Markets. “Our plan in Iowa is voluntary, and relies on injection at the local/retail level.” Agriculture retailers who participate will receive the formula for injecting calcium nitrate into ammonia, as well as a supply of the same Agribusiness Association of Iowa’s “STOP METH” signs that were displayed on a nurse tank for the press event.

Officials at the Oct. 9 gathering, which included Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, Secretary. of Agriculture Patty Judge, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), agriculture committee chairman, and Rep. Leonard Boswell (D-Iowa), along with U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration representatives, also put to rest any idea that the additive may not be needed with recent successes restricting pseudoephedrine sales and the growing use of tank locks.

“Despite a 77 percent drop in Iowa’s meth labs, we know meth cooks continue to go to multiple pharmacies to get enough pseudoephedrine to produce the drug,” said Marvin Van Haaften, Iowa’s drug policy coordinator and Director of the Governor’s Office of Drug Control Policy. “There is no silver bullet to totally eliminate meth, but the new inhibitor will help get us closer.”

Industry officials also applauded the announcement as a breakthrough in the fight against methamphetamine. “We are extremely pleased with the results of research efforts by Iowa State in cooperation with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies and industry,” remarked Dave Coppess, Agricultural Retailers Assn. chairman and Heartland Co-op vice president of sales and marketing, who also attended the press conference. President and CEO Jack Eberspacher said ARA was proud to assist in securing federal funding for the research and “intends to continue to work closely with Congress and the Administration in securing grant funding to help the industry cover part of the costs of purchasing the new additive.”

The additive research started at Iowa State University and also involved an independent lab for structural and corrosion testing and field testing in vulnerable locations in the state. “We used three different sites,” reported Woolery, “and in every case theft attempts stopped almost immediately as word got out that it was ‘bad stuff.’ The original test site hasn’t been hit for about three years.” He said recently concluded Dept. of Transportation tests found no additional corrosion or stress cracking. Nurse tanks have already passed the tests, he added, but more structural testing will be done when funding is available in the near future.

These tests have also shown that calcium nitrate, a common greenhouse fertilizer already proven to be non-toxic and safe for food supplies, has no adverse impact on the environment or farm equipment, and when added to anhydrous reduces what meth makers get from methamphetamine to two percent or less. The inhibitor also reduces the purity of the drug.

Yara North America already has a foothold in Iowa as the primary supplier. Yara has supported the Iowa research from the start and is the largest distributor of calcium nitrate in North America, importing about 200,000 tons a year in liquid and dry form from factories in Norway. Yara also owns 50 percent of Merschman Fertilizer LLC, which the Iowa Dept. of Agriculture has identified for stocking the product. Merschman, headquartered at West Point, Iowa, has a storage and blending plant in Fort Madison and other facilities at Burlington and Fulton, Ill. Yara also has liquid calcium nitrate positioned in Wisconsin. According to the Ag Dept.’s John Whipple, “This compound will be merchandised like any other fertilizer material.” Whipple noted that “Price will be FOB at the Merschman or any other distributor location.” Whipple’s staff will also assist retailers needing help on introducing the inhibitor in NH3 tanks.

Jack Gale, Yara North American president, said his company is waiting on guidance from state agriculture and transportation officials, but expects the dealers will have a bigger job getting ready than the suppliers. One of the issues, he added, will be where the liquid will be injected at each dealer location. “We don’t know the scale or how much may be mandated, but we’re ready to build whatever distribution system is required,” Gale suggested.

With approximately 26,000 anhydrous ammonia nurse tanks statewide, applying the inhibitor in Iowa may run between $62,000 and $1.2 million annually. State agriculture officials estimate that it will cost $24 per injection per nurse tank. But officials believe a more realistic approach would involve strategic injections on a seasonal basis in as few as 10 percent of the nurse tanks at a cost of around $120,000. For the time being, Iowa has no plans to spread the word about calcium nitrate nationwide. Dale Woolery said interest has been expressed by officials in New York, Illinois, and Canada, but added that he “cannot speak to anyone’s intent.”

Simplot expects mine expansion despite court decision

A federal district court’s Sept. 20 ruling that reinstated the Clinton administration’s 2001 ban on road construction in national forests should not block the J.R. Simplot Co.’s expansion of the Smoky Canyon Mine near the Idaho/Wyoming border, a Simplot spokesman said.

U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Laporte singled out the Simplot mine’s expansion into the 12,000 acre Sage Creek Roadless Area in overturning the Bush administration’s 2005 petition plan, under which states could develop their own plans for roadless areas and petition the U.S. Forest Service to implement them. By coincidence, Idaho Gov. Jim Risch announced his proposed changes to Forest Service management plans for 9.3 million acres of roadless areas in Idaho’s national forests the same day Laporte made her ruling. The Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service granted Simplot permits for exploratory drilling three years ago, and later upheld that decision following a series of public hearings.

Environmental groups have hailed Laporte’s decision, which they say – if it’s upheld – could halt Simplot’s Smoky Canyon mine expansion in the previously protected Sage Creek area, and block the extraction of more than four million tons of phosphate ore that would be used in fertilizer production at Simplot’s Pocatello processing plant.

Fred Zerza, a Simplot spokesman, disputes that. “Under either the Clinton or Bush roadless rules, we have a legal right to develop the Smoky Canyon property. Our existing right precedes the effective date of either of those rules,” Zerza said, noting the Forest Service and BLM upheld Simplot’s expansion plans despite appeals by environmental groups. “So, the bottom line is none of this as far as the courts’ decisions – and there are several out there and probably several more in the future – is an issue as far as expansion of the Smoky Canyon Mine is concerned. We just don’t anticipate any impact on the current process for Smoky Canyon.”

Simplot expects the mine expansion’s final Environmental Impact Statement will be issued in December or January as scheduled, Zerza said. “This is probably not the last litigation connected with this issue. We think it will be tied up in the courts in the foreseeable future, but again, that will not impact our right to proceed.”

Simplot feels Gov. Risch’s roadless decision was correct and appropriate, based on recommendations of land management officials and a great deal of local input, Zerza said. “So, we certainly concur with that decision. It’s refreshing to have a governor who doesn’t succumb to the demands of the preservationist community.” Risch told the Associated Press that Idaho plans to join other states in appealing Laporte’s decision.

Charles Ross, general manager of Agrium’s Conda phosphate operation near Soda Springs, said the federal court ruling is a “non issue” for Agrium in Caribou County. “Based on the ages of our leases and when they’re done here, I see this will have essentially no effect on us. If they were new leases, it might be different, but the deposit has been identified,” Ross said. Agrium shifted its phosphate mining operations from North Rasmussen Ridge to the Dry Valley slightly more than a year ago. Ross anticipates the Dry Valley mining will continue for another three to four years, when Agrium would return to North Rasmussen Ridge.