US loans $1.5 billion for coal-fired fertilizer plants

The U.S. Energy Department announced on Wednesday that it had closed a $1.5 Billion loan to Wabash Valley Resources, LLC, for an Indiana Fertilizer Plant, which will now be powered by coal.

The department stated that the project would restart a coal-gasification plant, which has been idle since 2016, and modify it so that it can produce 500,000 tons of anhydrous urea each year, using coal from a mine nearby and petcoke as a feedstock.

The loan is in line with the policy of the Trump administration to support coal. This industry has been shrinking over recent years because of competition from renewable energy and natural gas.

The loan was approved during the tenure of former President Joe Biden. At that time, the project was to use only petcoke as fuel and store all the carbon dioxide emissions permanently underground within an old coal mine to combat climate change.

No longer will emissions be captured and stocked.

Chris Wright, U.S. Energy secretary, said that America had been dependent on foreign fertilizer for too long. Under President Trump's leadership we are changing this by putting America First, relying American coal, American workers and American innovation to feed our families and power our farms.

(source: Reuters)