(The Center Square) – A push to “Trump Speed” environmental permits has put the proposed $4 billion Blue Point ammonia plant in Ascension Parish on the edge of a mandated 45-day regulatory deadline on Friday.
The Trump administration’s 45-day mandate, intended to fast-track new U.S. fertilizer production, applies to critical environmental reviews of the Blue Point ammonia project pending before the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality. None of these permits had been filed by late afternoon Thursday, online records show.
At a May 19 press conference, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins declared the multi-agency push ensures critical infrastructure projects “will move at Trump speed” to bypass bureaucratic delays.
Funded through the Commodity Credit Corporation, the U.S.D.A.’s newly launched $500 million FIELDS Program drives this fast-track effort by providing infrastructure grants ranging from $15 million to $150 million.
The FIELDS Prpogram, announced by Rollins at a July 1 press conference, redirects federal resources by clawing back funds from the Biden administration’s Fertilizer Production Expansion Program. The Trump administration invoked emergency spending powers under the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act to mobilize the funding without waiting for congressional approval.
To qualify for the funding, companies must prove their facilities are construction-ready, secure a 50% private-sector financial match, and remain below anti-monopoly market-share caps.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright said at the May briefing that the Biden administration had needlessly slowed the development of the Blue Point plant. “The Biden administration wanted it to fit their climate-crazy agenda, and it stalled that plant that should be feeding American farms today,” Wright said. “But that permit will be issued soon, and that plant will be up.”
Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Adam Tell put the directive into action, launching a “Building Infrastructure, Not Paperwork” initiative on Monday ordering the Army Corps of Engineers to clear bureaucratic backlogs for energy and agricultural infrastructure. Tell confirmed in May that the agency issued a memorandum ordering all 39 national districts to ensure fertilizer projects are no longer delayed by “red tape”.
Illinois-based fertilizer producer CF Industries, the lead partner in the Ascension Parish project, will have the rights to 40% of the ammonia production, while JERA, Japan’s largest power provider, and Mitsui, a major Japanese industrial conglomerate, will get 35% and 25%, respectively.
In a press release, JERA said that the factory will be “the largest ammonia production facility in the world,” with production of about 1.4 million tons a year. “JERA will offtake the produced ammonia to supply markets in Europe, Asia, and other regions,” the Japanese energy company said.
Ann Rolfes, founding member of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, an environmental group, contends that the rush to clear Blue Point’s permits primarily benefit foreign corporations. “Louisiana will miss the boat… if we continue to offer ourselves as a colony to richer parts of the world,” Rolfes said, arguing the region is being used as a “dumping ground” for a plant built to power overseas economies.
According to the Environmental Integrity Project’s tracking database, the Ascension Parish facility is under review for direct environmental impacts to approximately 5.5 acres of wetlands and 44 acres of waterbottoms.
Earlier this week, Air Products announced it was abandoning its planned $4.5 billion blue hydrogen complex in Louisiana, while ExxonMobil recently froze investment at its massive hydrogen production hub in Baytown, Texas, citing a slow-developing domestic market for clean gas. While those canceled ventures relied on selling pure hydrogen to a slow-growing domestic market, the Blue Point facility is to convert its hydrogen into liquid ammonia destined for guaranteed buyers overseas.