Illinois Gets Big Fertilizer Plant Project

CHICAGO - A foreign company has selected Illinois as the site of a planned $1.4 billion fertilizer plant with the help of some local and state financial incentives.

Cronus Fertilizers, a subsidiary of Cronus Chemical LLC, which includes Swiss and Turkish investors, announced its selection Oct. 29 of the central Illinois town of Tuscola as the site of its project. Iowa and Illinois were vying for the project and both offered incentives.

Construction is expected to begin next year. The company originally looked at 76 sites in nine states before narrowing its choices down to Illinois and Iowa locations.

Iowa is home to two other billion dollar fertilizer plant projects. Iowa Fertilizer Co., a subsidiary of Eygpt-based Orascom Construction Industries, is building a facility financed in part with $1.3 billion of Midwestern Disaster Area Bonds, under a federal program that allocated tax-exempt private activity bond capacity to states that had experienced storms and floods.

CF Industries is expanding its plant near Sioux City.

Posey County, Indiana is home of another billion plant under construction that also tapped that state's share of Midwestern Disaster Area bond program, which has since expired.

The new project is expected to produce 2,000 construction jobs and 175 permanent jobs, according to a statement from Gov. Pat Quinn.

"Building this new plant here in the heartland will be a big boost for our central Illinois economy, provide a locally made product for our farm industry and create thousands of good-paying jobs. With Illinois now leading the Midwest in job creation, companies like Cronus are helping us keep the momentum going," Quinn said.

The company said it chose the site for its central location, world-class transportation infrastructure, proximity to natural gas pipelines and a highly trained and motivated work force.

The plant will produce non-flammable nitrogen-based products, specifically urea and ammonia fertilizers and diesel exhaust fluid, using natural gas as a feedstock.

The state will provide an estimated $35 million in tax exemptions for the Tuscola site. The benefit was authorized by legislation approved last spring. The exemptions are contingent on the plant's successful completion and operation, as well as the company meeting its targets for hiring and capital expenditures.

The project also will receive $12.3 million for road improvements through the Illinois Department of Transportation, an estimated $3.9 million in credits against the company's state income tax liability over 10 years, a $1 million grant for public infrastructure and job training grant of $78,500.

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