Proposed Fertilizer Plant Making Strides
Positive steps are still being made to establish the Eastern Montana Fertilizer Plant in the eastern part of Roosevelt County.
The proposed Eastern Montana Fertilizer Plant will be located near Culbertson. The unapproved draft expects $220 million in sales over a 15-year period. It’s believed that the project would create 2,000 construction jobs at its peak and about 200 operational positions.
John Mues of Cyan H2 said the project is making good progress, but two financial assistance requests are important. Cyan H2 is applying for a $150 million grant from USDA. The application deadline is Aug. 17. Another application is for a federal loan of $1 billion from the U.S. Department of Energy.
Mues noted that under the Trump administration, a $1.5 billion assistance was approved for a fertilizer plant in Indiana.
Positive meetings have taken place with Montana’s U.S. Rep. Troy Downing and U.S. Sen. Tim Sheehy about the project.
“We also had a conversation with U.S. Senate candidate Kurt Alme,” Mues said. “Those stakeholders appeared to be supportive of our grant application and our federal loan application.”
The project has received a letter of support from the Montana Farm Bureau Federation, Montana Agriculture Business Association and Montana Grain Growers Association.
The letter includes, “This will provide not just Montanans, but all American farmers with a substantial supply of domestically produced fertilizer, reducing our reliance on foreign imports. Our organizations support thriving rural communities so the job creation, added property tax base and ongoing economic stimulus the plant will provide, is another positive attribute. This project is expected to create 2,000 jobs during the construction phase and 200 direct post-construction jobs which will be a great addition to rural Roosevelt County and surrounding areas.”
Mues said the process has taken a long time, but he is optimistic the project will happen.
“I’m the most confident I’ve ever been,” Mues said.
Recent achievements have included submitting a part B pre-application to the DNRC for water rights and working with an engineering firm for a 100 percent pipeline easement.
They are negotiating with CHS to extend the off-take agreement from 2044 to 2049. “So it covers the full fiscal model term,” Mues explained.
In late 2025, it was announced that Cyan H2 signed a Memorandum of Understanding with KBR to support the development of the project. The project aims to produce 650,000 metric tons of urea fertilizer from natural gas annually. Offi cials say that the project serves Montana and national interests in that the proposed plant would more than halve the country’s dependency on urea fertilizer imported from Russia and therefore greatly benefit American farmers.
