Ammonia 101: What is Blue Ammonia and Why You Should Care

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By anaïs peterson

The oil and gas industry is constantly shifting and creating new ways to justify its existence and expansion. In the 2010s, industry drove increased investment in plastics production. Now, the industry is looking to something called “blue ammonia” as another lifeline for profits. Right now, there are 26 proposed blue ammonia facilities across the country. Here’s what you should know:

First, blue ammonia is just another fossil-fuel-based product that brings harm to both communities and the planet. 

Ammonia can be produced naturally from the decay of soil, plants, animals, and human waste. However, it is also man-made and is one of the most commonly used chemicals in the United States. Between 70% and 80% of the ammonia produced worldwide is used in agriculture. It is also used in a variety of products, including plastics, pesticides, cleaners, and even explosives. 

The man-made production of ammonia happens by mixing nitrogen from the air with hydrogen and heat in a process known as the haber-bosch process. It is very resource-intensive, using large amounts of energy and water. Refining just one ton of ammonia from natural gas emits almost three tons of carbon dioxide (CO2).

The hydrogen used in this process can come from a variety of sources. When making blue ammonia, the process uses blue hydrogen. This means the CO2 emissions created during hydrogen production are captured and transported via pipeline to injection wells, where they are injected underground —a process known as Carbon Capture and Storage, a risky and unproven technology.

Producing ammonia is a hazardous and complex process, often associated with leaks, transportation accidents, and catastrophic failures. Across the globe, ammonia-related incidents have led to injuries, deaths, and long-term environmental damage.  

Toxic to Health and Harmful to the Environment

Ammonia poses both short-term and long-term health risks and is highly toxic and corrosive to the skin in high concentrations. Short-term exposure can cause irritation and serious burns in the mouth, lungs, and eyes. Long-term exposure to airborne ammonia can increase the risk of respiratory irritation, cough, wheezing, chest tightness, and impaired lung function. Workers in particular are at risk of adverse health impacts, as data shows that workers who are exposed to high levels of ammonia on the job have been shown to develop respiratory symptoms and decreased lung function. 

Ammonia is also a threat to life in waterways. Ammonia-based nitrogen fertilizers are a primary contributor to nitrogen pollution, which can contaminate groundwater and lead to algal blooms in waterways. This leads to oxygen depletion in aquatic ecosystems, which in turn can create dead zones, areas largely devoid of marine life. These dead zones are expanding globally.

The truth about the ammonia buildout is that it is a fossil fuel lifeline that will increase the pollution burden and health risks in already polluted fenceline communities. While the industry seeks to develop new technologies to expand the ammonia market, these developments, if ever achieved, will take years. In contrast, communities on the frontlines of fossil fuel extraction and ammonia production will continue to bear the brunt of the consequences. 

Where it’s happening & how to get involved

The majority of this buildout is located in Appalachia and the Gulf South, where communities are already dealing with decades of legacy pollution. The world’s largest ammonia plant by acreage, CF Industries’ Donaldsonville facility, is located in Louisiana, and what could become the largest ammonia producer in the world, Adam’s Fork Energy, is proposed for West Virginia.

Fighting back

Earthworkers are collaborating with communities in West Virginia, Louisiana, and Texas to resist the blue ammonia buildout. Learn more about each of these site fights below: 

West Virginia – Adams Fork Energy Blue Ammonia Facility 

Transgas’ Adams Fork Energy facility is proposed for Mingo County, WV. If built to full capacity, this facility would be the world’s largest ammonia facility. It also has the highest emission potential of all proposed petrochemical projects in the country. This facility has applied for and received its air permit, but the fight is far from over. 

Louisiana – Louisiana Clean Energy Complex

Formerly known as the proposed ‘Air Products Blue Ammonia facility’, it would be, if constructed, the first of its kind in Louisiana. Proposed on an enslaved burial site in Sorrento/Gonzales, Louisiana, the Louisiana Clean Energy Complex would produce low-carbon hydrogen to power mobility and industrial markets in the Gulf Coast region and beyond. This massive complex spans several parishes. St. John the Baptist Parish, St. James Parish, Ascension Parish (where the CCS facility is slated to be located), and Lake Maurepas in Tangipahoa and Livingston Parishes. The company claims it would capture 95% of its carbon dioxide emissions, permanently sequestering the CO2 miles below Lake Maurepas in St. John the Baptist, Tangipahoa, and Livingston parishes. In early May 2025, Air Products announced its plan to sell the Carbon Capture component of the project and would not proceed with ammonia production. Air Products will move forward with applying for permits for the construction of the facility in Ascension Parish. We hope Air Products will also sell off those permits. On June 6, 2025, Air Products was granted its Air permit. For more information, sign up at earthworks.org/sorrento. 

Louisiana – CF Industries Blue Point Complex  

CF Industries is the world’s largest ammonia producer. The expansion of the current facility would cost approximately $4 billion, and at peak operation, the facility would produce 1.4 million metric tons of ammonia annually. The proposal is for a major expansion of the already existing 1,400-acre industrial facility located on the Mississippi River in Donaldsonville, LA, in the aptly named RiverPlex MegaPark. Earthworks has been convening our partners in the region to fight back against this facility. This project has already received $6 million from Louisiana Economic Development and is expected to receive around $250 million in tax exemptions over the next 10 years.    

Texas- YaREN Blue Ammonia Plant 

This proposed collaboration between Yara and Enbridge is in Ingleside on the Bay. This facility has the potential to be one of the biggest disasters to the local ecosystems and a threat to children and families due to its proximity to homes and an elementary school. As the production of ammonia is resource-intensive, it would require the desalination of millions of gallons of water to sustain its operation. Once salt is removed from the water, the company would then dump toxic quantities of salt back into the bay, resulting in the death of local wildlife and the destruction of the sea grasses that sustain the environment. 

Ingleside on the Bay elected officials and community members have made it clear that they do not need another facility in their community, as evidenced by their denial of an objectionable use permit that has delayed construction. 

Yara and Enbridge are currently launching an aggressive PR campaign that understates the danger of their facility while overstating the economic impact of their project. They promise jobs, send mailers proclaiming they are “good neighbors,” and have even funded a local food pantry. They omit relying on corporate welfare in the form of tax abatements to complete their facility. Yara and Enbridge have also failed to show community members and leaders an emergency plan in the event of an ammonia leak or explosion.

Earthworks recently collaborated with the Coastal Watch Association and the Texas Campaign for the Environment on a YaREN Town Hall. Over 50 community members attended, expressing disdain for the project and excitement about joining local organizations to create interventions against its construction. This included writing to the TCEQ, a statewide agency that approves permits for the project, to deny the permits they need to secure. In addition to requesting a contested hearing, residents can voice their opposition to this project.

Links to information about permits: Water Rights Application & Wastewater Permit