Controversy surrounding a proposed fertilizer production plant in Posey County raises serious questions about whether a Pakistani company is cooperating enough with U.S. efforts to reduce the illicit use of fertilizer in homemade explosives used against our troops in Afghanistan.
The issue reaches far from the port of Mount Vernon where Midwest Fertilizer Corp. proposes to build the plant with assistance from the Indiana Finance Authority. That state assistance is now on hold, and for good reason.
It’s complicated, but suffice it to say that the U.S. is investigating whether fertilizer from the Asian country is finding its way into deadly improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in neighboring Afghanistan, and whether enough is being done to stop it.
The concern is such that Indiana has now put a hold on its support for the Mount Vernon port project as it investigates the Fatima Group, an industrial conglomerate based in Lahore, Pakistan.
In December, the Indiana Finance Authority issued $1.3 billion in bonds to help finance the nitrogen fertilizer plant that Midwest Fertilizer Corp. proposes to build at the port. Midwest Fertilizer is a part of the Fatima Group, which produces fertilizer in Pakistan and is one of a group of companies owned by the Arif Habib Group.
According to a report by Courier & Press business writer Susan Orr, the U.S. government has met with Fatima Group representatives because of concerns that fertilizer from Pakistan is making its way into IEDs in Afghanistan where U.S. troops and troops from other countries have been fighting terrorist elements, including the Taliban.
To us, there are too few degrees of separation not to justify Indiana officials putting the Posey County deal on the shelf pending a thorough investigation.
Orr has reported on conflicting views of fertilizer trafficking.
She wrote that according to news accounts, including a 2011 story on the Arif Habib website, first published in a Pakistan newspaper, Fatima Group representatives were cooperating with U.S. officials to help stem the smuggling of fertilizer.
But on the other hand, at a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee hearing last year, Army Lt. Gen. Michael Barbaro testified he met with Fatima Group leaders to ask them to take steps to make their fertilizer easier to identify and track. But he said the company has not implemented any effective product security or stewardship efforts. He said the company was less than cooperative.
Shortly after taking office, new Indiana Gov. Mike Pence pulled state support for the Posey County project, based on the views of Pentagon officials.
Also, the Indiana Economic Development Corp. has suspended its support for the project, pending its investigation.
No question, this would be a lucrative project for Posey County, promising to bring 309 full-time jobs with annual wages of $58,000 each to the county. And some officials continue to hold out hope that it may be possible to satisfy concerns and eventually complete the deal.
However, for now, and especially given the sensitivity of Americans to the violence done with IEDs to our military personnel, the correct course is to continue holding up this project until all are satisfied that the dots do not connect.