Talus Renewables, a green ammonia facility, will build a plant west of Prestage in southwestern Wright County. The application for a zoning change was approved by the county Planning and Zoning Commission March 14.
The facility will be built on eight acres on the west side of Prestage near the transformer. The plant will produce 20 tons (one semi load) of green ammonia each day. Talus will drill a new well on the site.
Green ammonia production is a process of making ammonia that is 100% renewable and carbon-free. The ammonia is used in making carbon-neutral fertilizers.
The zoning request changed the land from agricultural to commercial/industrial.
At the March 18 meeting of the county supervisors, the board heard from Woolstock residents who want to control the traffic that deviates from the C-70 detour during bridge construction. “We have gotten no cooperation from our city council to prohibit anyone from driving through town and tearing up the streets,” one resident said. She said the road was damaged in 2017 from “people flying through there” and heavy semis that cracked the surface. “Three or four months (of the detour around bridge construction) is going to tear it all up.”
County Engineer Adam Clemons agreed to put a weight limit of five tons per axle to limit the heavy truck traffic on 335th Street that goes east and west on the south side of Woolstock, and the supervisors approved the resolution. The sheriff’s department has agreed to keep an eye on the road (known as Neville Street in Woolstock), and steep fines will be imposed on any trucker who violates the weight limit. Warning signs will be posted about the new weight embargo. “Hopefully, this will deter most of the problems,” Clemons commented.
The bridge replacement on C-70 (330th Street) started Monday. The road closure is between Franklin Avenue and Alice Street in Woolstock. The project is expected to take three to four months to complete. The detour is R-33 (White Fox Road) from C-70 to 210th Street in Hamilton County, running along the north side of Webster City on 210th Street to R-27 (Fisher Avenue in Hamilton County and Franklin Avenue in Wright County) back to C-70.
Clemons also reported the county will receive a $10,000 reimbursement from the state for a sign replacement project that was completed in 2023.
Supervisor Dean Kluss reported that he had lunch with State Representative Mark Thompson last week. Kluss said he and Thompson are both frustrated with the Iowa Senate’s lack of action. “We have a Republican-controlled House and Senate, and a Republican governor, and we can’t get anything done.”
Kluss also said he has been invited by former U.S. Representative Steve King to speak to the John Birch Society about the proposed Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline.
