Local newspapers reported two pieces of very interesting news at the end of last week, regarding the pipeline of proposed ammonia plants in the US.

In Idaho, it appears that the Power County commissioners are trying to engage in a transaction that implies (to me, though company reps wouldn’t say) that Magnida is liquidating its position. The American Falls, ID, site has now been in development for over a decade, without success.

On the other hand, a new project was announced in Washington: Pacific Coast Fertilizer. Although still in the “project definition stage,” this is a large-scale project, with significant partners.

I’ve known of the Pacific Coast Fertilizer project for almost a year, without being able to publish anything about it. Even after it has gone public, however, I still have somewhat over 2 million tons of ammonia capacity represented in my list of “stealth mode” projects in development, about which I cannot write.

Regarding ammonia project development in Washington, I expect to see Initiative 732 pass the ballot, on 8 November 2016, making Washington the first state in the US with a proper Carbon Tax: starting at $25 per metric ton CO2, and rising every year. For reference, Pacific Coast Fertilizer would emit, approximately, 1 million tons CO2 per year.

Full updates are available to members in my Research Notes for Magnida and Pacific Coast Fertilizer, but all sources are linked from those pages if you prefer to do your own research.