Cronus-Chemicals-logoIowa is no longer in the running to land a $1.4 billion fertilizer plant. Tina Hoffman is spokesperson for the Iowa Economic Development Authority. “Just within the last couple of days, we were officially notified that the company had selected a location outside of the state,” Hoffman says. Officials with Cronus Chemicals have chosen Tuscola, Illinois as the site for the plant.

The company had also been considering a site in northern Iowa’s Mitchell County. “For the last few months, we really haven’t been competing for the project,” Hoffman said. “It really just didn’t seem like the best fit for Iowa, so it wasn’t necessarily a surprise.”

Cronus had initially looked at dozens of potential sites in nine states, but narrowed the decision down to Illinois or Iowa. The Tuscola location is roughly two-and-a-half hours south of the company’s headquarters in Chicago.

Iowa already has two massive fertilizer projects in the works. Egypt-based Orascom is behind a $1.8 billion Iowa Fertilizer Company plant under construction in southeast Iowa’s Lee County. CF Industries, located near Sioux City, is building a $1.7 billion expansion to its fertilizer plant.