Iowa State Senator Joe Bolkcom says he has the numbers to back up his claim that the Orascom fertilizer plant deal was the “worst Iowa economic development decision ever.” At one time, Orascom was considering a site in Mercer County south of New Windsor for the project before closing the deal in Iowa. The Iowa City Democrat has given speeches on the Senate floor for two straight days ripping Governor Terry Branstad for the Iowa incentives.
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Bolkcom says Iowa had a 300-million-dollar advantage over Illinois before the governor approved a 110-million dollar incentive package. He says a big advantage in bringing Orascom to Iowa was the state was eligible for bonds to help rebuild after floods in 2008, which Illinois didn’t have.
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Branstad defended the incentives during his weekly press conference, saying the company will be creating 35-hundred construction jobs over the next three years as the fertilizer plant is built in southeast Iowa. The facility will cost one-point-four-billion dollars to build, and Orascom received about a third of that in federal, state and local incentives. The firm was also considering a site in Scott County, near Walcott.