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U.S. NEWSSaturday 30 January 2016
Longshoremen walk off job in New York, New Jersey Proposed ethanol
plant getting $4.2M
A straddle carrier loads a container onto a truck at the Port Newark Container Terminal in Newark, ficials by surprise. James in state tax breaks
N.J. On Friday, Jan. 29, 2016, more than 1,000 longshoremen walked off the job at ports in New McNamara told NJ.com
York and New Jersey, putting ship unloading at a standstill. The walkoff began at about 11 a.m. that the union has ob- DAVID PITT
Friday. jected to what it considers Associated Press
interference by the Water- DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) —
(AP Photo/Julio Cortez) front Commission of New A Minnesota businessman
York Harbor in its collective whose construction com-
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Long- about 11 a.m. It wasn’t ports’ operator, said more bargaining agreement. pany has built many of
shoremen walked off the immediately clear what than 1,000 longshoremen No ships were being un- the nation’s ethanol plants
job at ports in New York prompted the action. Sev- participated in the walk- loaded and no trucks were received state sales tax
and New Jersey on Friday, eral thousand longshore- out. being allowed to enter the incentives Friday to com-
putting a halt to the un- men are employed in the A spokesman for the Inter- port during the job action. plete construction on a
loading of ships at the na- ports system. national Longshoremen’s On Wednesday, the ports previously idled project in
tion’s third-busiest port. The Port Authority of New Association said the walk- had reopened after be- southwest Iowa.
The walkout began at York and New Jersey, the out took many union of- ing closed for two days The Iowa Economic Devel-
for snow removal from last opment Authority board
weekend’s blizzard. approved $4.2 million in
The Port Authority was sales tax refund benefits
working to get trucks that for the project proposed
were in the port at the time by Farmers Energy Cardi-
of the strike out of the area. nal to build a corn ethanol
It sent an email saying, plant northwest of Atlantic.
“We strongly urge the ILA The company had sought
members to return to work $17.2 million in tax benefits,
immediately and resolve including investment tax
their differences after they credits and sales tax re-
return.” funds, but the board took
The New York-New Jersey a cautious approach and
port handles more than approved just the sales tax
$200 billion worth of cargo incentives for the compa-
per year and is the busi- ny, which promises to cre-
est port on the East Coast ate 49 jobs.
and the third-busiest in the The plant is designed to
country, behind Los Ange- produce 150 million gallons
les and Long Beach, Cali- of ethanol a year — a ca-
fornia. q pacity that ranks it among
the largest of Iowa’s 44
Some Midwest farmers moving to organic can get aid corn ethanol refineries.
National ethanol produc-
BLAKE NICHOLSON costs — everything from sioner. During the conver- It’s not a silver bullet (but) tion is nearly 15 billion gal-
Associated Press soil testing to education. sion, farmers can’t sell their it’s an appropriate role for lons a year. Iowa leads the
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Minnesota farmers can get crops into the organic mar- agriculture departments to way with nearly 3.8 billion,
North Dakota and Minne- up to $750 annually and ket until they are certified play.” followed by Nebraska’s 1.8
sota are helping farmers North Dakota farmers up to organic by a government- Organic crops account billion gallons and Illinois’
with the three-year transi- $1,000. approved agency. for less than 1 percent of 1.5 billion gallons.
tion from traditional crops The expense of the transi- The Organic Trade Asso- U.S. farmland, the associa- “Even though we have the
to organic production, an tion, which bans farmers ciation is pushing for an tion said, and federal Ag- largest amount of ethanol
effort that the industry’s from using mainstream industry-led, government- riculture Department data production we still have
main trade group says chemicals and likely leads administered certification shows there are only about excess corn,” said Monte
could boost the acreage to lower yields, is not prohib- program for organic farm- 14,000 organic farms — a Shaw, executive director
of organically grown crops itive, but “there’s a learning ers who are still in the tran- fraction of the 2 million to- of the Iowa Renewable Fu-
in the U.S. if it takes root be- curve there that the farmer sition phase, to give them tal farms in the U.S. But the els Association, an industry
yond the upper Midwest. needs to go through,” said better support and possibly demand is high for organic trade group. “Iowa should
Minnesota started its grant Lowell Kaul, an organic even premium prices for products: Sales have in- still be one of the most at-
program first, in 2013, and farmer near Harvey, North their crops, according to creased from $3.6 billion in tractive places to expand
North Dakota followed suit Dakota, who serves on Nathaniel Lewis, the asso- 1997 to nearly $40 billion ethanol production wheth-
this year. Both programs a board that advises the ciation’s senior crops and in 2014, association figures er it’s with a greenfield
assist with the transition state agriculture commis- livestock specialist. show.q plants like this proposal or
through expansion to exist-
ing plants.” q
