Dear Friends,

Over last weekend, I travelled to the Port of Portland, Oregon to participate in the naming and maiden voyage celebration of a new ship called the M/V ANSAC Wyoming. I was honored to be the ship’s godmother at the invitation of the American Natural Soda Ash Corporation (ANSAC) and to name and christen the ship as well as activate the first loading of Wyoming soda ash in the new ship.

Soda ash is a fundamental material used in everyday items from detergent to glass to toothpaste. The natural soda ash industry in Green River employs nearly 3,000 workers in Wyoming alone, not counting all the downstream jobs along the train routes and at our nation’s ports. This is Wyoming’s number one international export and a major contributor to reducing our trade deficit.

Soda ash details:

• High quality trona deposits in SW Wyoming, which are processed into soda ash, are the largest known deposits in the world and are sufficient to meet global needs for hundreds of years.
• Wyoming mines produced over 16 million tons of trona in 2013.
• Approximately 4 million metric tons of natural soda ash is exported from Wyoming annually.

M/V ANSAC Wyoming details:

• 580 feet (1.5 football fields) long by 93 feet wide and can hold 33,000 tons.
• Will load Wyoming soda ash out of Port Arthur, TX and Port of Portland, OR.
• Will travel all over the world, including Japan, Korea, Taiwan, EU, and Latin America.

Please feel free to share your thoughts on this or concerns with other issues.

Sincerely,