NAME OF APPLICANT: CF Industries Blue Point, LLC, c/o CK Associates, Attn: Ms. Olivia Barry, 8591 United Plaza Blvd., Suite 300, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70809.
LOCATION OF WORK: On an approximate 950-acre site, located within and along the right descending bank of the Mississippi River, near river mile 184, located at 8404 Noel Road, near Modeste, in Ascension Parish, Louisiana, (lat. 30.17261, long. -91.03739), as shown within the attached drawings. (Hydrologic Unit Code 08090302, Lower Mississippi River Basin, West Central Coastal Louisiana Watershed).
CHARACTER OF WORK: The applicant is proposing to clear, grade, place and maintain fill material for the construction of an industrial ammonia facility (Blue Ammonia Plant) which includes a heavy haul road, marine terminal, pipe rack crossing the levee, and associated infrastructure. The project will utilize a natural gas pipeline to fuel the ammonia manufacturing process. The proposed facility would produce approximately 4,300 tons per day of low carbon ammonia through the implementation of carbon capture and sequestration technologies prior to emission of process carbon dioxide (CO2). The proposed project claims that this method would allow for the capture of 100% of the process CO2 generated and would reduce overall carbon emissions by greater than 60% compared to conventional ammonia manufacturing. The CO2 captured would be compressed and transported via existing pipelines to a storage facility in Vermillion Parish. The final product is a form of ammonia that can be utilized as a hydrogen-based fuel or fertilizer and will be exported via barge or ship. The project proposes to impact approximately 44.97 acres of Mississippi River waterbottoms via dredging for marine terminal construction. The dredged waterbottoms would be disposed below the -55-foot contour within the Mississippi River downstream of the project site. The marine terminal, pipe rack, and heavy haul road portions of the project would temporarily impact approximately 2.96 acres of Mississippi River batture jurisdictional wetlands, permanently convert approximately 0.54 acre of forested batture wetlands to emergent wetlands, permanently fill approximately 0.35 acre of jurisdictional batture wetlands, and permanently impact 0.54 acres of jurisdictional Other Waters of the US (Mississippi River and batture side waters). The proposed ammonia manufacturing facility would permanently impact approximately 1.43 acres of jurisdictional Other Waters of the US via fill placement. Approximately 17,080 cubic yards of hauled in material would be placed as fill in jurisdictional areas for the heavy haul and pipe rack installation, 36,050 cubic yards of steel piles placed in jurisdictional areas for the proposed marine terminal installation, and 2,500 cubic yards of fill material for the proposed facility. Approximately 900,000 of native material in the Mississippi River would be excavated via dredging for the proposed marine terminal construction. Approximately 11,226 cubic yards of hauled in fill material would be placed as fill for the construction of the ammonia manufacturing facility and its associated infrastructure.
MITIGATION: The applicant proposes to avoid direct impacts and minimize secondary impacts to wetlands to the maximum extent practicable. The applicant is proposing to avoid approximately 15.79 acres of jurisdictional wetlands located adjacent to the project area and 6.99 acres of jurisdictional Other Waters of the US. For compensation for unavoidable wetland impacts, the applicant proposes to use a Corps approved mitigation bank within the watershed of impact.