Approximately 220 area citizens filled chairs and bleachers at Falls City High School on Wednesday, December 18, 2024, to listen to EDGE and Citroniq Co-Founders Kelly Knopp and Mel Badheka discuss the proposed Biochemical Manufacturing plant south of Falls City. The $5 billion proposed site will sit on 420 acres south of town; 120 acres will be designated for the facility, while the other 300 will be needed for rail infrastructure. The plant will employ 160 premium-wage professionals once up and running and it will bring nearly 2,000 construction workers to the area during the three-year build. The co-founders of Citroniq Chemicals, LLC attended the meeting on Wednesday, EDGE Director Lucas Froeschl, City Administrator Anthony Nussbaum, and Julie Bushell, who leads the Nebraska BioEconomy Initiative and the Falls City EDGE Board.
Froeschl began the community engagement session by thanking everyone in attendance.
“This has been a fun process that goes way further back than the three and a half years that I’ve been in the role as the EDGE Director,” said Froeschl.
Froeschl stated his top concern when taking the position was the electrical power issues in Falls City.
“We’ve got a big electrical issue right here in Falls City,” said Froeschl. “It’s something that I was motivated to try and solve.”
Froeschl stated that this is the first step in community engagement and envisions many more meetings before the project is complete. Each will supply more details as they become available.
“Citroniq is still working on some of their engineering; it’s not all engineered,” said Froeschl. “We’re taking feedback from all the different stakeholders, and they are challenging their engineers to implement some of that feedback.
Falls City secured a $15 matching funds grant from the Nebraska Legislature in 2022 to help with electrical upgrades.
“We’ve got to come up with the other $15,” said Froeschl. “We are working hard on that, diligently. We’ve made a lot of progress on that. Citroniq is here to help us make that a reality.”
EDGE partnered with OPPD on a site-diligence plan in 2023 and created a marketing plan. With some help from state representatives at the Economic Development Office, EDGE decided to turn their attention to securing BioEconomy companies.
Froeschl stated that in September 2024, the prospect of bringing Citroniq to the area became a reality.
“Citroniq is partnering with Falls City to build the necessary power and utility infrastructure right here in Falls City,” said Froeschl. “The Nebraska BioEconomy Initiative, Falls City, is definitely a part of that. We are looking to create a biochemical hub right here in Falls City that can add value. This bio-polypropylene is going to be manufactured out of ethanol instead of petroleum, and that’s the value Nebraska can bring to the BioEconomy Initiative.”
According to Julie Bushell of the Nebraska BioEconomy Initiative, four things make Nebraska great. “Those four tenants are Nebraska’s people, our water, our crops and our livestock,” said Bushell.
Kelly Knopp, co-founder of Citroniq Chemicals, told the audience that after graduating from Kansas University, he went to Texas to pursue an engineering job.
“Forty-some years later, here I am back in the Midwest,” said Knopp.
Knopp said they have found that by using ethanol to make plastic pellets, the carbon is captured by the pellet.
“You basically capture five times more carbon, more C02, in pellet than the weight of the pellet,” said Knopp. “So, five tons for every ton of polypropylene. It’s very effective that way.”
“We’re excited to be here and excited about this project,” said Knopp.
Mel Badheka said his family came to the United States in 1991 and has been involved in the energy business for over 30 years.
“One of the things that we want to make sure is that we are doing things in the right way and the right order,” said Badheka. “How we invest our money and our investors’ money is important, not just from today’s perspective, but how we leverage that financial strength for future growth. That is all around infrastructure; we are partnering with the Falls City administration to plan out how we are going to do the power, utilities, water treatment, roadways, and all the infrastructure that it needs to support this project.”
Badheka said that given the size of the project, they need to be good stewards of their investors and the community. He said it’s important to leave a legacy for his children they are proud of.
He also gave credit to Froeschl for securing this project for the Falls City area.
“The first time we came here, we were very impressed with Lucas and Anthony,” said Badheka. “Their drive, their energy, their enthusiasm, ingraining us to this town is exemplary. We have not seen that anywhere in this search. We talked to seven or eight states around the Midwest; this is the state where we want to be.”
According to Froeschl, the area is being explored for annexation.
“We are not certain if it can be annexed,” said the EDGE Director. “We do know there is a statute on the books from about 20 years ago that was implemented for ethanol plants. We are exploring if annexation is an option; we are not sure yet.”
Froeschl also stated that the expectation is that the tax burden to everyone in the county should decrease due to the amount that the investor will pay.
“We are fine with that,” said Badheka. “That is a fair way for us to exist in this community. In fact, we are partnering with the Falls City administration on their $15 million grant. We are going to match those funds as part of our effort to make sure that we build that together. We’re not shying away from any capital expense that benefits the community.”
The co-founders also disclosed that the company has already secured sales for the mega-site.
“All of our sales are already spoken for, for this site,” said Badheka. “We’ve already sold out this entire site.”
Bushell explained that the engagement session is one of many that will be planned.
“The goal is to continue to have these town halls maybe every six months, but certainly every time a new, large development happens in the project,” said Bushell.
Citroniq plans to have the plant operational by 2029.
