Legislative Probe Urged of Ecological ‘Crisis’ at AltEn Plant
Ray Loftus figured he’d purchased his “dream home” when he bought an acreage with an old farmhouse just south of Mead.
But after the ethanol plant just down the road started production in 2015, he noticed changes, like fewer bees, no rabbits and none of those Asian beetles so common in rural areas. His son also had respiratory issues.
Last year, Loftus sold his home after learning that the ethanol plant, AltEn, had used expired seed corn, coated in pesticides and fungicides, to produce the corn-based alcohol instead of the normal field corn.
Dream Home For Sale
His son’s health has improved since his family moved out, he said, but he hasn’t found a buyer for his house.
“I’d like to know if anyone here would like to buy my dream home,” Loftus said.
He was among several people testifying last Thursday before the Legislature’s Executive Board in favor of a legislative resolution to form a special legislative committee to investigate what some described as the AltEn “crisis.”
State Sen. Carol Blood of Bellevue introduced Legislative Resolution 159, saying that it would be a “powerful tool” to “ferret out” why AltEn was allowed to use contaminated seed corn and how it was permitted to dispose of the chemically laced “wet cake” left over from the ethanol process on nearby farm fields.
A probe, she said, would also determine whether state laws or enforcement of state environmental rules need to be changed.
Bill Seeks Study
Blood has introduced a separate bill, LB 1048, to allocate $10 million in federal funds to investigate the health and environmental impacts of the AltEn plant.
“Why isn’t someone in jail for treating Nebraska like a dumping ground for toxic waste and its people like worthless collateral damage?” Blood asked members of the Legislature’s Executive Board.
But while a doctor, a scientist and a handful of Mead residents testified in favor of LR 159, two community leaders, as well as the state’s top environmental regulator, spoke against the idea.
Some Oppose Probe
Bill Thorson, chairman of the Mead Village Board, and the Rev. John Schnell, pastor of Mead Covenant Church, said there’s already significant oversight of the cleanup at the AltEn plant, and establishing a special legislative committee could jeopardize that.
“We are finally seeing some progress,” Schnell said.
Jim Macy, director of the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy, said that his agency visits the AltEn site three times a week and is working closely with a group of six seed corn companies who have volunteered to clean up the site at no cost to the state.
Macy disagreed with claims by Blood and others that there’s been a lack of transparency and public meetings by his agency concerning the cleanup of millions of gallons of contaminated wastewater and thousands of tons of wet cake.
He said that NDEE has operated a special webpage about the cleanup and posts all public documents concerning AltEn. He added that he has met regularly with a small group of Mead leaders, including Thorson and Schnell, to field comments and concerns.
Final Plan Ready Soon
Public hearings, Macy said, will be held after the seed corn companies devise their final plans for disposing of the wet cake piles, which were just recently covered by a spray-on cap of mortar to prevent rainwater from washing contaminants away.
But state Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks of Lincoln said that some Mead residents are upset about not being part of such meetings, and others asked for public meetings now, not later. She also questioned why it took the state so long to file a lawsuit against AltEn, despite the firm ignoring at least a dozen orders to clean up and properly dispose of waste corn and water.
Macy said it was privileged information about when a lawsuit is filed, but he defended his agency’s work and the progress with the cleanup.
Cleanup Could Take Years
When asked, he said it could take three to five years to complete the cleanup. That, Macy said, compares to 15 to 20 years to complete remediation at a federally declared Superfund site.
Macy said Nebraska has not asked for that designation because it would mean committing the state to pay 10% of the cleanup costs, instead of having the seed corn companies pay.
“This program is very successful and it’s working,” he said.
Earlier last week, the seed corn companies filed two lawsuits against AltEn and its owner, Tanner Shaw, alleging that they had not participated in the cleanup and had instead sold off assets, including a feedlot and mansion, to avoid paying for the remediation.
Who Pays?
The lawsuit left some to question whether state taxpayers will be left holding the bill for the cleanup.
Ken Winston of the environmental group Bold Alliance questioned why the state, when it filed its lawsuit against AltEn a year ago, didn’t ask a judge to freeze the company’s assets.
He also said a legislative investigation would discover what role, if any, the seed corn companies played in AltEn’s use of its seed.
The Executive Board took no action on the resolution after a hearing.
This story was originally published by Nebraska Examiner, an editorially independent newsroom providing a hard-hitting, daily flow of news. It is part of the national nonprofit States Newsroom. Find more at nebraskaexaminer.com.
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