The project announced its location in Longview, WA, last September, although it had been under development for a few years before then.
The project sponsors should know what they’re doing: Pacific Coast Fertilizers is a joint venture between various development entities owned for the most part by Ferrostaal and Haldor-Topsoe.
They explained the proposed project in detail, addressing environmental concerns, benefits to the community and why they chose to voluntarily go through the state’s environmental impact statement process.
After the discussion, we still see this as a good project for the community …
The Daily News editorial: Pacific Coast Fertilizer, 11/07/2017
Even if everything goes smoothly, we still won’t see construction begin until 2019 at the earliest, and there’s no indication about when the company will make an investment decision. Although the city agreed to sell them the land for a bit under $2 million, I wouldn’t expect any meaningful investment decision until after the EIS is published and the actual construction permits are in hand.
The draft EIS could be released for public comment in the Spring on 2018. In the meantime, the city has published lots of data, provided by the company in support of its EIS efforts:
Natural gas would be supplied to the Facility via the existing 12-inch-diameter Ostrander natural gas lateral pipeline operated by Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. The existing lateral pipeline runs approximately 0.4 miles east of the proposed project site. An approximately 4,000-foot extension would be constructed to connect the lateral pipeline to the proposed Facility …
The ammonia product would be stored in two on-site, refrigerated 33,000 ton (30,000-metric tonne) storage tanks prior to loading in trucks or marine vessels. The truck loading facility would include the components needed to load the manufactured ammonia in 11,500-gallon capacity tanker trucks. Ammonia would be transported from the storage tanks to the marine loading facility via a 16-inch diameter, approximately 1.5-mile insulated product line. The marine loading facility would be constructed at the existing Nippon Dynawave salt dock. The marine loading facility would consist of loading lines, a loading arm, a water tank, a hydraulic power unit, and operator cabinet … approximately 1.5 miles south by southwest of the Facility site along the Columbia River.
The objective of the project is to provide ammonia to the Pacific Northwest and West Coast regions (Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho and California), where it would be sold for use as an agricultural fertilizer, or sold to others for conversion into other ammonia-based fertilizer products. Ammonia produced at the Facility would also be made available for sale to international markets via shipment by marine vessel. The project would not include shipment via rail.
City of Longview, Pacific Coast Fertilizer SEPA Checklist
More information about the project and its history is in my Research Note.