Magnida plant underway, project managers asking for community input

Power County Building Administrator Bob Steinlicht stood on 6,000 acres of private farmland, 600 of which, will be designated to house the new Magnida fertilizer plant.

“it’s an unbelievable undertaking,” Steinlicht said. “There’s an underpass involved taht will go across the railroad, crossing the river, the rerouting of the powerlines…”

Not to mention they will also need to build a new substation to feed power into the new plant, since the plan is to now switch from a coal-powered plant to one that is powered by natural gas instead.

To add to that, he said a new road would have to be built as well.

He said this is going to be a $1.5 billion project, all funded and secured from lending institutions instead of the taxpayers.

Steinlicht said this new company will create tons of new jobs, employing manpower and sparking ancillary businesses that will spring-up from this fertilizer plant.

He also expects this project to make-up the lost revenue from the closing of the FMC corporation, which happened to be one of the biggest tax contributors to the county.

The three farmers who agreed to give up their land in order for the new plant to be built, will be getting paid by the Magnida company in order to compensate for the money they could have earned by continuing to farm on that land.

There was a public hearing held in the Power County Courthouse on Tuesday night.