Serving Franklin County, WA
Serving Franklin County, WA
Agriculture officials to receive comments
HATTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture is considering a grant award to a local company to expand fertilizer production.
Perfect Blend, LLC, manufactures organic plant food at its 771 Kulm Road location northwest of Hatton. The company has applied to the USDA for a grant to help build a 4,000-square-foot addition to increase capacity.
Details on the amount of the grant being considered and other information has yet to be released by the USDA.
The project is one of 21 the USDA is considering; USDA officials are expected to begin accepting comments on environmental and related aspects of the expansion and the other projects.
Applicants have requested grant funding totaling $88 million through the first round of the Department’s newly established Fertilizer Production Expansion Program.
In response to prior feedback requesting more time for public comment on the environmental and related impact of USDA-funded projects, USDA is seeking comments from the public on the following questions and projects pertaining to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (NHPA). The 30-day public comment period will close February 8, 2023. Additional information is available at http://www.rd.usda.gov/fpep-environmental-review-comments.
The Fertilizer Production Expansion Program is part of a whole-of-government effort to promote competition in agricultural markets.
USDA has also released a summary of the comments (PDF, 953 KB) received through a Request For Information on Access to Fertilizer: Competition and Supply Chain Concerns, which highlights the variety of concerns about the limited competition and dependence of foreign sources for significant amounts of fertilizer.
Roger Harnack is the owner/publisher of Free Press Publishing. Having grown up Benton City, Roger is an award-winning journalist, photographer, editor and publisher. He's one of only two editorial/commentary writers from Washington state to ever receive the international Golden Quill. Roger is dedicated to the preservation of local media, and the voice it retains for Eastern Washington.
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