Canadian officials are working to convince global agriculture giant Nutrien to back out of its plan to build a $500 million to $1 billion dollar fertilizer export terminal in Longview just weeks after The Daily News broke news of the project, according to Canadian media reports.
Senior officials with the country’s department of transport are meeting with representatives from the Canada-based company on Friday, The Globe and Mail reported that day.
Officials at Nutrien did not directly answer The Daily News' questions about the meeting or its outcome.
"Nutrien has selected Longview as the preferred location for our proposed export terminal," said Emily Pearce, a spokesperson for the company. "We look forward to working closely with local stakeholders as we advance this important project."
The Port of Longview did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
Nutrien’s decision to pick Longview — which came as tensions between the neighboring countries continued to simmer — sparked immense public and governmental anger at the company in Canada.
“It really pissed me off that we lost the Nutrien deal because I think that was entirely avoidable,” said David Eby, the leader of British Columbia in a press briefing. “We cannot afford as a country or as a province to lose real projects in the name of politics right now.”
Eby added that he will work with other Canadian leaders to "do our best to reverse that decision of shipping potash out of Washington state instead of British Columbia."
Which country Nutrien picked had long been seen as a test of who could win to woo investment: Canada’s promised regulatory streamlining or U.S. jurisdictions tax and deregulation incentives.
It is not clear what Longview has offered the company to attract it. But the port’s newly renovated Berth 4 site offers quick access to Asian markets and is served by two major railroad companies. The port’s freight capacity is also set to double because of a $73 million rail development project.
The port in Vancouver, Canada, by comparison, is congested, tide-dependent and serviced by only one railway. Canadian ports and railroads have also faced labor struggles over the past few years, The Globe and Mail reported.
On a webpage about the project, Nutrien says it picked Longview because of skilled labor availability, logistics advantages and access to markets.
While Canadian officials at the highest levels have bemoaned the choice, officials in the U.S. — including Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson — have not commented on the country’s win.
But the move was widely celebrated along the Columbia River when announced.
Port of Longview Commissioner Alan Erickson celebrated the potential project, and said he hopes to finalize a lease in early 2026.
“This project has the potential to bring significant investment, family-wage jobs, and long-term economic strength to Cowlitz County," he wrote to The Daily News last month.
The project’s lead for Nutrien, Holly Kral, said last month they couldn’t say how many jobs the project would create because they were still determining the scope and if it would happen.
If the project comes to life, it anticipates bringing in a train every one to two days. That would lead to 5 to 6 million metric tons of potash being exported each year — the equivalent of a ship every two to three days.
Potash is a potassium fertilizer. A ton of the salt sells for an average of about $500 dollars right now, USDA data shows. That means the company could be exporting between $2.5 billion and $3 billion a year from Longview.
