Air permit proposed for Agrium plant

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation has proposed issuing an air quality permit for Agrium’s fertilizer plant at Nikiski on the Kenai Peninsula. Agrium is considering re-opening the mothballed plant and had applied for the air permit, to ensure that the fairly lengthy permitting process is completed, should the plant go back into operation, Adam Diamond, Agrium’s manager of government relations, told Petroleum News on Dec. 10. The company has yet to make a decision on whether to restart the plant, Diamond said.

“We’re not any closer to a final decision but we’ve gotten that (permitting) hurdle out of the way, so we know we won’t be a year behind schedule if we hadn’t done anything,” he said.

The Nikiski plant produces urea and ammonia from Cook Inlet natural gas, with the products being shipped out of Alaska from the Nikiski dock. Agrium mothballed the plant in 2007 because of a shortage in gas supplies. However, following the recent resurgence in the Cook Inlet gas industry, the company is considering restarting the plant.

Agrium applied for the new air permit in October 2013. Because the company had voided the fertilizer plant’s previous air permit at the time the plant was mothballed, the company is applying for a new permit, as if the plant is being constructed as a new facility. And, if the plant does re-open, Agrium plans to upgrade some of the plant’s systems, using new technologies that will better control the air emissions - the permit reflects the proposed upgrades to the plant.

Comments on the proposed permit are due by Jan. 2.

- Alan Bailey