A Colorado company developing plans for what it calls the region's first world-scale nitrogen fertilizer plant has its sights set on Cheyenne, with Swan Ranch Business Park emerging as a possible site. American Fertilizer says the facility would produce urea, UAN32 and diesel exhaust fluid, with annual production capacity designed to reach 2.5 million metric tons. Company projections point to more than 3,000 construction jobs and 300 permanent positions if the plant moves forward.
Mayor Says Talks Are Already Underway
Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins has met with American Fertilizer representatives since July and has more meetings planned in the coming weeks, according to Cowboy State Daily. Collins described the scale of what's being discussed in blunt terms, saying “it's a multi-billion-dollar facility.” The company, based in Windsor, Colorado, is weighing Swan Ranch Business Park southwest of Cheyenne, a site near the junction of Interstates 25 and 80 that already has rail access the project would need to move supplies in and finished product out.
Collins said he has confirmed with the U.S. Department of Agriculture that the agency is aware of American Fertilizer's plans, the outlet reported. American Fertilizer has also been raising capital for the project, with an SEC notice from September showing $3.76 million sold toward a $4.76 million goal, backed by four investors and a $250,000 minimum buy-in for outsiders.
Company Pitches Plant as Hedge Against Import Reliance
American Fertilizer's pitch centers on the idea that the plant would lower costs for Wyoming ranchers by cutting out the long-haul transport of fertilizer from the Gulf Coast, Canada or Pacific Coast ports, Cowboy State Daily's report notes. The United States imports approximately 44% of its fertilizer supply, according to the company's own materials at americanfertilizer.com, which also claims the Western U.S. has 5 million metric tons of regional fertilizer demand without a large-scale plant to serve it.
That framing arrives amid broader supply jitters. Urea prices climbed more than 28% in three weeks after the Strait of Hormuz closed in the Middle East in February, per the same account. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has since launched a $500 million fund aimed at boosting domestic production of nitrogen and other crop nutrients, and separately announced it would make $500 million available through its FIELDS Program to support construction and expansion of domestic fertilizer facilities, according to a USDA announcement. The federal government's own research arm has noted that nitrogen fertilizer production is energy-intensive, with natural gas making up 70 to 80 percent of production costs, and that U.S. nitrogen supplies have grown more reliant on imports over the past decade, per the USDA Economic Research Service. As of 2025, net imports accounted for about 13% of U.S. nitrogen fertilizer consumption, Cowboy State Daily reported, citing a University of Illinois analysis of USGS data.
Cheyenne's Existing Plant Carries a Mixed Environmental Record
Cheyenne is no stranger to nitrogen production. Dyno Nobel already operates a plant in the city that converts natural gas into ammonia and uses it to produce urea, nitric acid and ammonium nitrate, employing more than 200 people as of 2024, according to the Cowboy State Daily account. That plant's history includes a federal enforcement action: the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Dyno Nobel agreed to pay a $394,906 civil administrative penalty as part of an ongoing, multi-step effort to address Risk Management Program violations at its ammonium nitrate production plant in Cheyenne, according to an EPA press release.
Whether American Fertilizer's proposal advances to an actual site, permits and construction remains to be seen, and the company has not laid out details on water needs, emissions or a regulatory timeline in the materials reviewed so far. For now, Collins has called the project an exciting opportunity for Cheyenne, even as the plan remains in the early stages of courting investors and considering a site near the interstate junction.
