Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. is pulling out of its plans to build a $1.3 billion methyl methacrylate, or MMA, monomer plant in Geismar, the company announced Tuesday. Despite the growing demand for MMA, the company cites its ability to meet immediate demand with manufacturing facilities in Tennessee and elsewhere, as well as the failure of long-term negotiations with customers, as reasons for the decision. As previously reported by Daily Report, BRAC and LED began discussions with the company about a potential MMA plant in 2016. To secure the project, announced in December 2020, state officials offered an incentive package that included the LED FastStart program as well as a $4 million performance-based grant to offset infrastructure costs, payable in two equal installments in 2024 and 2025 as capital expenditures were certified. The company was initially expected to reach its final investment decision in 2022, but announced instead that it would defer that decision by another six to 18 months due to market volatilities. The project aimed to use the company’s proprietary “Alpha Method” technology, leveraging ethylene derived from U.S. shale gas. Early last year, as the company sought environmental permits, local environmental groups spoke out in opposition to the project. Over the summer, an energy think tank report condemned the project further, saying the Mitsubishi plant was “the wrong project, at the wrong place and time, with the wrong financial scenario.”