Iowa Fertilizer Company shut down construction at the site of its new plant in Lee County for at least the next few days. The company released a statement Friday afternoon that said its "engineering, procurement and construction contractor has reassigned some of the work from a specific subcontractor to other subcontractors on site."
IFC did not identify the subcontractor that's been reassigned or the number of workers impacted by the decision.
The company went on to say construction will continue to progress on the jobsite, but it did not indicate when that might happen.
Tri States Public Radio made requests for additional information but did not receive a response.
A video posted online by someone who identified himself as a worker at the plant showed an unidentified person announcing to workers that construction would shut down through Sunday.
IFC President Shawn Rana told TSPR in January that the plant was 70% complete and that there were 2,700 employees onsite at that time. He said there would eventually be 240 full-time employees at the roughly $1.8-billion plant near Wever.
The Full Statement from Iowa Fertilizer Company:
Iowa Fertilizer’s engineering, procurement, and construction contractor has reassigned some of the work from a specific sub-contractor to other sub-contractors on site including Iowa-based sub-contractors. Qualified labor will be assigned to these sub-contractors for continuing this work. Construction work will continue to progress on the job-site. Iowa Fertilizer remains committed to Lee County and the economic revitalization that has occurred from the project. We continue to work for completion and operation in the fourth quarter of 2015. Iowa Fertilizer will bring a domestic, stable supply of fertilizer to the region’s farmers – helping reduce our nation's reliance on foreign fertilizers.
