NEWS OF THE WEEK ADMINISTRATION
JOHNSON GETS THUMBS UP Senate panel approves EPA nominee after he kills controversial research plan
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SENATE PANEL VOTED LAST
week to confirm Stephen L. Johnson to be EPA administrator after he pulled the plug on a proposed controversial study of children's exposure to chemicals. The Senate Environment & Public Works Committee voted 17 to 1 forJohnson, a 24-year veteran of the agency who has been acting administrator since January The Senate had been expected to confirmJohnson in coming days, but Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.) blocked that vote in a last-minute maneuver. Johnson canceled the contro-
Johnson
versial research project after Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) threatened to stop a vote on his nomination because of it. The proposed Children's Health Environmental Exposure Research Study was intended to determine how pesticides and common household chemicals get into the blood of babies and toddlers (C&EN, Nov 15,2004, page 7). The American Chemistry Council gave EPA some $2 million to help fund the project. EPA suspended the study in November 2004, pending fur-
BUSINESS
POTASH PROJECTS Agrium, Mosaic, and PotashCorp are adding capacity after getting a tax break BIG DIG PotashCorp operates the world's largest potash mining operation in Saskatchewan.
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HREE MAJOR PRODUCERS OF
potash (potassium chloride) have announced capacity expansions after the Saskatchewan government provided tax relief for new potash investment.
2005
Agrium announced that it plans to proceed with a $65 million project that will add 310,000 metric tons per year of capacity at its Vanscoy Saskatchewan, mine, bringing the company's total annual capacity to 2.1 million metric tons. Construction is scheduled to begin in July 2005, with completion slated for third-quarter 2006. Mosaic will begin work immediately on a more than 360,000metric-ton-per-year expansion at its Esterhazy potash facility with an investment of about $28 million. Completion is scheduled for fall 2006. And Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan will bring back 1.9 million metric tons ofidled potash capacity at facilities in Lanigan and Allan at a cost of $275 million.
ther scientific review But Boxer and Nelson said they would block Johnson's nomination unless he scratched the research. "I have concluded that the study cannot go forward, regardless of the outcome of the independent review," Johnson said on April 8 in announcing cancellation of the project. "EPA must conduct quality, credible research in an atmosphere absent of gross misrepresentation and controversy" Carper is blocking a vote on Johnson because EPAhas refused for two years to analyze bipartisan legislation that he is championing to control sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury and carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. Carper wants EPA to compare economic and health benefits ofhis legislation with the Bush Administration's Clear Skies proposal, which would control S0 2 , NO x , and mercury but not C 0 2 . —CHERYL HOGUE
The announcements came immediately after the Saskatchewan government announced on April 11 a 10-year tax holiday from base payments on potash mine expansions of more than 200,000 metric tons of potassium chloride per year. The government also provided a capital investment incentive to promote production expansion. All three firms say they are evaluating additional expansions in the province, home to most of North America's potash mines. Agrium says it is evaluating another expansion of similar size. Mosaic is looking at additional expansions of about 1.5 million metric tons that are in the engineering stage. And PotashCorp is exploring two smaller projects at its Cory and Patience Lake mines. According to Natural Resources Canada, Saskatchewan produced about 14.2 million metric tons ofpotash in 2003 on a KC1 basis. Saskatchewan accounted for 95% oftotal Canadian potash output that year.—WILLIAM ST0RCK WWW.CEN-0NLINE.ORG
