Project Meadowlark, a planned fertilizer manufacturing facility east of Gothenburg, continues to move through planning, permitting and environmental review as developers work toward the next phase of the process. Founder Josh Westling said the large-scale project remains in a detailed planning stage, noting the complexity of building a fertilizer plant and the importance of careful preparation before construction begins.
The facility is designed to convert U.S. natural gas into urea ammonium nitrate, commonly known as UAN or 32-percent liquid fertilizer, a product widely used by corn producers across Nebraska and the region. Westling said the area relies heavily on imported fertilizer because local production is insufficient to meet demand. The plant would produce approximately 365,000 tons of UAN annually, along with ammonium thiosulfate and diesel exhaust fluid, commonly known as DEF.
A recent milestone for the project came when it was added to the U.S. Department of Energy’s FAST-41 federal permitting dashboard. Westling said the designation allows the public to track permitting and environmental review progress while signaling confidence in the project’s potential. He noted Project Meadowlark is among the first manufacturing facilities included on the federal transparency dashboard.
Developers hope to begin site grading before the end of the year, pending completion of remaining federal review requirements. If that timeline holds, vertical construction could begin in the spring. Westling said the project has also been redesigned to reduce its electricity demand by relying primarily on natural gas as a feedstock rather than competing with growing power needs from data centers and other large industrial users.
Westling added that the plant’s annual water use would be roughly equivalent to a single center-pivot irrigation system. Much of that water would become part of the finished liquid fertilizer product applied by farmers. He credited Gothenburg-area residents and local supporters for helping move the project forward and said the goal remains to provide a reliable fertilizer supply closer to where it is needed throughout the region.
