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www.thelandonline.com — “Where Farm and Family Meet”
THE LAND — APRIL 2/APRIL 9, 2021
AltEn and Nebraska: The mess gets even messier On March 1, Nebraska’s attorney genyear lag to connect the environmental eral threw the book at AltEn, alleging the dots, the state still didn’t act until May 24 million gallon-per-year ethanol maker 2019 when the state’s Department of near Mead spent most of the last five Agriculture, reported the Journal Star, years making an environmental mess of ordered AltEn to “cease applying the its biofuels plant and the surrounding solid byproduct” of the treated seed as “a rural community. soil conditioner.” In a 97-page civil complaint, the state Simultaneously, the state “issued the detailed 18 “causes of action” against company a notice of violation that it was FARM & FOOD FILE AltEn ranging from “operating a solid operating a solid waste management By Alan Guebert waste management facility” (AltEn now facility” — by storing the now-unusable is “storing” an estimated “84,000 tons ethanol byproduct — “without a perof distiller’s grain onsite” which conmit.” tain “elevated concentrations of pestiAnd yet the plant continued to opercides”) to “discharge of a pollutant into waters of the ate even, according to the complaint, as AltEn offistate without a permit.” cials did little to comply to state demands that it As explained here last month, the allegations address growing problems with nearly every system stem from AltEn’s unique ethanol business. In a in the Mead facility: growing piles of tainted sales pitch to potential customers last summer, it byproducts, excessive wastewater drainage, leaking explained it was “processing 600,000 to 900,000 lagoons, and incomplete records. pounds of treated seed into ethanol daily,” according Equally remarkable, the complaint doesn’t explain to the Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star. who AltEn is and, therefore, whom the state of That ethanol feedstock — treated agricultural Nebraska is charging with 18 different “causes of seed instead of the usual farm-raised corn — “creat- action.” It does note that “Defendant AltEn, LLC, is ed tens of thousands of tons of pesticide-contamia Kansas limited liability company” and “is regisnated byproduct” the plant tried to rid itself of in, tered as a foreign limited liability company in what the state now alleges, manners both legal and Nebraska.” illegal. The state’s lengthy, date-filled complaint also serves a second, if unintended, function: it documents just how neglectful Nebraska regulatory offi- To the Editor, cials were in their duty to protect citizens and natuThe Back Roads article of March 12, 2021 on ral resources from the type of calamity now hitting “Budejovice” left me feeling very sad. What a beautiAltEn’s rural neighbors. ful story of a gentleman’s willingness and ability to For example, according to the complaint, on restore the 1868 church! It was apparent that he “February 14, 2013, AltEn stated ‘Grain (mainly was energized physically and mentally — his cancer corn) will continue to be the primary raw material went into remission. and the facility will keep the ability to produce wet distiller’s grain and solubles… for animal feed’” Two paragraphs later, however, the state confesses it “discovered in 2015 that AltEn was using discarded seed corn that had been treated with pesticides as To the Editor, its feedstock… however, [it] did not know until 2018 Reading the opinion letter from Mr. Tommy Stiles that the byproducts from AltEn’s ethanol production (“Take Mr. Hagen’s Pen,” March 5/March 12) was could contain measurable residues of pesticides.” quite the eye-opening experience. I want to thank The Land for having the courage to print it. If the Even after what turned out to be a deadly, threeaverage American (democrat or republican) ever wondered what we are up against, his letter erases all doubt. I read Dick Hagen’s article from Jan. 29 again because I thought it was a respectable opinion, an accurate, historical look into how all prosperous civilizations have slowly but surely deteriorated and collapsed. I read slowly, looking for the anger Mr. Stiles accused him of. Nothing. I looked for division and hatred throughout Dick’s article. They should be obvious, Mr. Stiles referenced them not once, but twice. It had to be there, an old (again referenced twice) man like Mr. Hagen is surely incapable of changing his ways at his age. Just one problem: I couldn’t find those things in Dick’s words.
OPINION
Also, while the complaint lists the amount of civil fines (many are $10,000 per day) AltEn could be liable for, it doesn’t explain how the fines might be assessed or when they begin. Equally important to many in the surrounding community is who will pay cleanup costs if the owners of AltEn declare bankruptcy and walk away from the troubled plant and its dirty past. Al Davis, a rancher, former Nebraska state senator, and now a lobbyist for the Sierra Club hears that question whenever the name AltEn comes up in conversation. “It’s absolutely criminal what’s happened in Mead,” he relates in a March 22 telephone interview. “People have been complaining about the plant since 2017 and nothing was done.” The state confirms that fact, too: almost half of the 80 or so AltEn visits by state environmental inspectors since 2015 occurred in January and February 2021. All of which seem to point to a growing, implied understanding between most state governments and Big Agbiz: If we rarely check to see if the cows are still in the barn, don’t worry about fixing the barn door. v
Letter: Church showed lack of foresight The lack of foresight of the Holy Redeemer trustees to see the need for insuring the building left a serious imbalance of purpose in their thinking. All of the donation, besides the man’s health, seemed to have met with a petty lack of thought. Helen Schultz Canby, Minn.
Letter: Hagen is a concerned citizen
Instead I found a citizen concerned with the socialist direction this country is taking with little regard to the hard lessons of history. Then I read Mr. Stiles’ letter again with the same evaluation. To do so is a chilling look into what America is facing. His disagrees with Dick Hagen, which is fine, manages one respectable sentence, then launches a personal assault on Dick’s character, career and all who agree with him. When faced with an opinion he doesn’t like, Mr. Stiles doesn’t present a civilized dialog, instead he attacked and asked to have Dick Hagen silenced. Please wake up. This is the power of socialism staring all Americans in the face. Tom Haak Wood Lake, Minn.
