BISMARCK — Two proposals competing for $125 million in state money to help build a fertilizer plant in North Dakota have been scored by independent reviewers, with three out of four scores falling in the “questionable” rating.

NextEra Energy Resources and Prairie Horizon Energy Solutions will go through a technical review on Tuesday in front of a Clean Sustainable Energy Authority committee.

That authority is scheduled to meet again on Jan. 23 to consider the proposals, with the state Industrial Commission having the final say on the $125 million forgivable loan.

NextEra’s $1.293 billion facility would be in the Spiritwood Energy Park near Jamestown. The proposal from Prairie Horizon Energy Solutions is for a $2.2 billion facility near Dickinson.

A much-discussed bill passed during North Dakota’s special legislative session in October specified that the fertilizer production facility must use hydrogen produced by the electrolysis of water.

The loan would be forgiven when the facility is complete, essentially turning the loan into a grant.

Both proposals have been scored by two technical reviewers. Those scores fell into categories of “good,” “fair” and “questionable.”

Both the reviews for the NextEra plant fell into the “questionable” category. One review of Prairie Horizon was high enough to be rated “good,” the other “questionable.”

The reviewers are independent of the committee and are not identified on the scoring analysis.

The Clean Sustainable Energy Authority Technical Review Committee will go over the scores in detail when it meets at 9 a.m. Tuesday.

An in-state supply of fertilizer has become a high priority for North Dakota. Farmers need fertilizer to boost yields of crops such as corn and wheat. But North Dakota is largely dependent on fertilizer imported from other countries.

North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring told legislators during the special session that the state imports more than half the nitrogen fertilizer that farmers need.

It takes a lot of energy to make chemical fertilizer, and Goehring also notes North Dakota’s strong energy infrastructure in making the case for a fertilizer plant.

One of the major fertilizer suppliers is Russia, and its invasion of Ukraine has contributed to wide swings in the price of fertilizer in recent years.

The Mississippi River is a major supply route for fertilizer and North Dakota’s distance from that route puts it at a disadvantage compared to other Midwest states.

Sen. Dale Patten, R-Watford City, called North Dakota “the end of the trail” for fertilizer shipments.

“It costs a lot to get it shipped in, creates a lot of costs for our ag producers,” he said.

Patten is the co-chair of the Clean Sustainable Energy Authority along with Rep. Glenn Bosch, R-Bismarck.

The incentive money had been included in the Office of Management and Budget bill. But that bill was ruled unconstitutional because it covered topics outside the scope of the Office of Management and Budget.

As a separate bill, it was criticized by some legislators who felt the hydrogen requirement tailored it too specifically to NextEra, which testified in favor of the bill.

“When I saw it come through, what was missing, from my perspective, was this technical review process,” Bosch said. “So when I put the amendment that really required it to go through the Clean Sustainable Energy Authority, what we’re seeing happen right now is what I had hoped would happen — we’ve got competing projects, we’re going through the steps to vet them properly. So I think by doing that, I think that will help people feel like money wasn’t just earmarked for one company or another.”

This story was originally published on NorthDakotaMonitor.com