Two Mid-Columbia french fry plants along with a proposed fertilizer plant and several other companies were awarded nearly $9 million in grants funded by Washington’s Climate Commitment Act .
Five Mid-Columbia recipients were among 46 that shared $37 million from the climate act.
Lamb Weston Holdings Inc., the Eagle, Idaho-based french fry giant with plants across the Mid-Columbia, received the lion’s share of the local grants, about $4.6 million.
Lamb Weston announced the grants on Dec. 2, about two months after it closed its plant in Connell with little advance warning.
The closure put nearly 400 workers out of a job . The company had about 3,000 local employee s prior to the plant closure at its manufacturing, corporate and research facilities in the Tri-Cities area.
The state’s money will pay for upgrades at Lamb Weston’s still-operational plants in Pasco and Paterson in southern Benton County.
The Pasco plant received $2.9 million to reduce its use of natural gas for heating equipment and to cut water consumption.