French fry giant that closed Connell plant lands nearly $5M from WA Climate Act
Two Mid-Columbia french fry plants along with a proposed fertilizer plant and several other companies were awarded nearly $9 million in grants funded by Washington’s Climate Commitment Act.
Five Mid-Columbia recipients were among 46 that shared $37 million from the climate act.
Lamb Weston Holdings Inc., the Eagle, Idaho-based french fry giant with plants across the Mid-Columbia, received the lion’s share of the local grants, about $4.6 million.
Lamb Weston announced the grants on Dec. 2, about two months after it closed its plant in Connell with little advance warning.
The closure put nearly 400 workers out of a job. The company had about 3,000 local employees prior to the plant closure at its manufacturing, corporate and research facilities in the Tri-Cities area.
The state’s money will pay for upgrades at Lamb Weston’s still-operational plants in Pasco and Paterson in southern Benton County.
The Pasco plant received $2.9 million to reduce its use of natural gas for heating equipment and to cut water consumption.
The Paterson plant received $1.7 million to for efficiency upgrades, solar lighting for its parking lot and a heat recovery system.
The state awarded the grants before anyone knew the Connell facility would close, a spokeswoman confirmed.
Lamb Weston submitted its grant proposals in mid-June and the decision to make the award was made in August.
The state learned about the plant closure on Oct. 1, when Lamb Weston filed a worker notice and announced the shutdown to workers and the public. It stopped processing potatoes a day earlier.
Other Mid-Columbia recipients
- Carbon Containment Lab, Prosser, received $1 million for a feasibility study concerning the use of woody biomass for a carbon sequestration project.
- Emrgy Inc., Pasco, received $325,000 to develop and demonstrate a low-flow hydropower turbine.
- Fasahov Solar LLC, Sunnyside, received $1 million for a 2-megawatt solar project connected to agriculture.
- Pacific Green Fertilizer Corp., Richland, aka Atlas Agro, received $2 million toward renewable power and water at its proposed $1 billion carbon free fertilizer plant. Atlas has a deal to purchase land in Richland but has not finalized the decision to build there.
The clean energy grants are funded by the multi-billion dollar Climate Commitment Act, which raises billions by auctioning carbon credits to polluters. It was the target of a failed repeal in the Nov. 5 general election.
Washington voters retained the program, which steers auction proceeds to projects that promise to curb carbon emissions and combat climate change.
This story was originally published December 5, 2024 at 5:00 AM.