06.03.21

Hoeven: ADM's Soybean Crushing Plant A Four-For-One Project

Senator Outlines Efforts to Leverage the Facility for Growth in North Dakota’s Agriculture & Energy Sectors

JAMESTOWN, N.D. – Senator John Hoeven today met with the Jamestown/Stutsman County Development Corporation (JSDC) and the Spiritwood Energy Park Association (SEPA) to discuss opportunities surrounding ADM’s new soybean crushing plant. Hoeven helped announce the facility last month, after working with JSDC and the company for more than two years to redevelop the site of the former barley malting facility.

Moving forward, the senator is advancing efforts to tie the crushing plant to North Dakota’s agriculture and energy industries in new and innovative ways. This means realizing opportunities to:

  • Directly benefit farmers and the local economy.
  • Provide locally-processed soybean oil to Marathon Petroleum’s renewable diesel facility in Dickinson.
  • Make good use of waste steam from GRE’s Spiritwood station.
  • Tie into carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) projects and sequester CO2 off the Dakota Spirit ethanol plant at the ag-energy park. 

“After the barley malting facility closed, we made the case to ADM to open this plant in North Dakota, and now we’re working to realize four ways in which this single project will benefit our state,” Hoeven said. “Beyond the direct benefits to our agriculture sector, this crushing plant presents opportunities to continue growing North Dakota’s role as a global energy powerhouse. This includes supporting the production of renewable diesel, providing an additional revenue stream to the Spiritwood station and more opportunities to demonstrate that our state is the leader in developing CCUS technologies, which will enable us to produce more energy with better environmental stewardship.” 

SOYBEAN CRUSHING FACILITY

The crushing plant will create more than 70 permanent jobs and crush over 50 million bushels of soybeans per year, or approximately 25 percent of North Dakota’s yearly production. This will help reduce producers’ transportation costs, allowing them to retain more of their crop’s value, and alleviate the need for exports to foreign nations. The plant is expected to be completed in 2023.

RENEWABLE DIESEL

The facility dovetails with the recently-completed conversion of Marathon Petroleum’s refinery in Dickinson to produce renewable diesel. Hoeven has worked since his time as governor to create new value-added opportunities for agriculture, including the production of biofuels. Between the crush plant and the refinery, farmers will benefit from more reliable demand for their cops, while also expanding the state’s leadership in agriculture and energy and supporting American energy security.

SPIRITWOOD STATION

The crushing plant will also purchase excess steam from the nearby Spiritwood station, supporting better overall efficiency for the two operations and providing an additional revenue stream for the power plant, which is an important source of baseload power for the region. Such a partnership aligns with Hoeven’s efforts to support the reliability and affordability of the electric grid. To this end, the senator is:

  • Pressing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to ensure baseload power sources are properly valued.
  • Advancing efforts to crack the code on CCUS technologies.

CCUS PROJECTS

As governor and a U.S. Senator, Hoeven has helped position North Dakota to lead the way in the development and implementation of CCUS technologies, and the senator is working to ensure both the Marathon and ADM facilities are able to take advantage of these opportunities. His efforts include:

  • Securing the authority needed for the state to regulate CO2 storage.
  • Funding research into CCUS, including the work of the University of North Dakota’s (UND) Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC).
  • Implementing and expanding the 45Q tax credit.

As a result, companies are building the infrastructure needed to capture, transport and store carbon emissions from ethanol facilities. This includes a planned project for Midwest AgEnergy’s Dakota Spirit facility in the Spiritwood Energy Park, adjacent to the power station and ADM’s upcoming soybean crushing facility. Such projects enable ethanol producers to sell to states like California that have low-carbon standards for fuel, ensuring access to a broader market.

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