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This page is devoted to the ongoing environmental crisis at the AltEn ethanol plant in Mead, NE
The Perivallon Group is made up of a group of volunteers seeking solutions to the environmental concerns at the AltEn plant and other parts of the state that may have been contaminated. This site is maintained by the Nebraska Sierra Club.
Contact Al Davis for more information.
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Drone photo by Dr. John Schalles
To see more photos, click here.
Most recent:
Public hearing, info session scheduled for wetcake remedial action plan (RAP), Oct. 30
The Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy (NDEE) proposes to approve the AltEn Facility Response Group’s (AFRG) wetcake remedial action plan (RAP). The RAP is on public notice and is open to public comment and NDEE has scheduled a public hearing for 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 30, in the Mead High School gym.
Prior to the hearing, NDEE will hold an information session on the wetcake RAP at 5 p.m. at Mead High School.
The proposed wetcake RAP describes the FRG’s plan to continue on-site solidification of the wetcake for disposal at a permitted, off-site landfill. The proposed RAP is available for review on NDEE’s public records portal in a document titled “Remedial Action Work Plan,” filed Aug. 23, 2024.
The public may submit written comments on the wetcake RAP on or before Oct. 28, 2024, or testify or provide written comment at the Oct. 30 public hearing.
Comments should be mailed to:
Monitoring & Remediation Division
Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy
PO Box 98922
Lincoln, NE 68509-8922
Written comments may also be sent via email to: ndee.vcpbrownfields@nebraska.gov.
AltEn Plant Cleanup Makes Progress: Wet Cake Waste Removal To Be Completed at Nebraska AltEn Ethanol Plant in 2025, by Todd Neeley, Progressive Farmer, September 24, 2024.
What took so long? — by David Corbin (letter to the editor)
Jul 18, 2024
OMAHA — I was pleased to see your editorial about the crisis at the property owned by the AltEn ethanol plant.
The cleanup of the wetcake and lagoons contaminated with pesticides and fungicides from AltEn’s use of treated seeds to make ethanol has created a huge cleanup problem.
The AltEn Facility Response Group that is funded by companies that provided the treated seeds in the first place are currently engaged in the cleanup under the supervision of the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy.
That this environmental crisis was able to ever happen in the first place and to exist as long as it has begs the question of what took so long? (for background information visit: https://www.sierraclub.org/nebraska/alten-crisis).
As the cleanup process continues, it is not too early to make plans for the property once it is cleaned up.
I suggest a community solar project since the property is unsuitable for farming or housing. Solar energy would help the community save money on their energy bills.
The Mead community deserves to reap some rewards for the years of pollution and bad odors that they endured.The seed companies should help to fund the solar project and seek federal dollars designated for brownfield development. (https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/are-you-considering-renewable-energy-or-energy-efficient-approaches-your-brownfields)
David E. Corbin, PhD, Energy Committee Chair, Nebraska Sierra Club
Environmental problems at unusual type of Nebraska ethanol plant need to be resolved efficiently, Norfolk Daily News, July 8, 2024
AltEn pilot project resumes using new, less mechanical process, by Paul Hammel, Nebraska Examiner, June 19, 2024
After a massive bee kill, a scientist challenges pesticide policies, by Rebecca Raney, U.S. Right to Know Review, March 12, 2024
Jim Macy, state environmental chief for nine years, to retire next month: Some criticized the director and the agency for not acting sooner to shut down notorious AltEn ethanol plant, by Paul Hammel, Nebraska Examiner, March 11, 2024.
AltEn cleanup making progress despite setbacks; contractor says there's 'room for improvement,' by Chris Dunker, Lincoln Journal Star, December 20, 2023
Buzzkill: A bee researcher's colonies kept dying, and she couldn't figure out why. Then, she looked at the ethanol factory down the road, by Dan Charles, Food & Environment Reporting Network, December 18, 2023
Blood updates League of Women Voters on Mead ethanol plant woes, by Savana Kascak, Hastings Tribune, Dec. 11, 2023
AltEn Cleanup Ongoing, Lawsuit Slows: More Than 10,000 Tons of Wet Cake to Be Removed at Nebraska Ethanol Plant, Progressive Farmer powered by DTN, by Todd Neeley, November 17, 2023.
Telling the story: UNL students relish opportunity to study AltEn contamination, Lincoln Journal Star, by Chris Dunker, Nov. 12, 2023
Mead residents still being exposed to pesticides from AltEn, study shows, Lincoln Journal Star, by Chris Dunker, September 16, 2023
Cleanup of contaminated solid waste to begin next month at AltEn near Mead, Nebraska, Lincoln Journal Star, by Chris Dunker, August 22, 2023
AltEn Fights Bayer on Plant Cleanup, DTN.com, by Todd Neeley, August 15, 2023.
High levels of methane found in AltEn groundwater well-casings, KETV, by Jessica Perez, July 13, 2023.
Mead Ethanol Plant Cleanup in New Phase: Engineers Consider Moving Waste From Closed AltEn Nebraska Ethanol Plant to Landfills, Progressive Farmer, by Todd Neeley, June 7, 2023
Trucks begin hauling trash from AltEn site, Wahoo Newspaper, by Suzi Nelson, May 31, 2023
Clean up of AltEn site enters new phase, waste could be headed to Omaha landfill, Nebraska Examiner, by Paul Hammel, May 25, 2023.
Nebraska leaders skeptical about cleanup of solid waste from AltEn in Mead, WOWT News, May 26, 2023
Under the EPA’s watch, unchecked insecticides are causing another ‘Silent Spring’ by Clay Bolt, opinion contributor, The Hill, May 20, 2023
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Lincoln Journal Star, April 3, 2023
‘There’s a red flag here’: how an ethanol plant is dangerously polluting a US village' in The Guardian (January 10. 2021). This article first brought public attention to the situation, by Carey Gillam.
Follow-up article: 'The sad story of Mead, Nebraska: Toxic contamination persists amid clean-up efforts,' by Carey Gillam (March 31, 2022).
Click here to view the Town Hall meeting about the AltEn ethanol plant in Mead, NE on April 12, 2021
Click here to view information about the Town Hall meeting at the Mead Firehall on June 16, 2022
Video of the AltEn contamination Town Hall meeting in Mead, NE on the January 30, 2023 featuring researchers from UNMC, UNL and Creighton University.
Second follow-up article: ‘We want it back to what it was’: the US village blighted by toxic waste, The Guardian co-published with The New Lede, by Carey Gillam, April 26, 2022.
How a Nebraska ethanol plant turned seeds into toxic waste, Grist, by Diana Kruzman (April 21, 2022).
Click here to view information about the Town Hall meeting at the Mead Firehall on June 16, 2022
Tributaries surrounding the AltEn plant, Courtesy of Dr. John Schalles
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Drone photo from NDEE showing the Posi-Shell covering that was applied to the contaminated by-products showing pooled liquid that is problemat
Click here to see the April 12, 2021 Town Hall meeting about environmental concerns at the AltEn ethanol plant.
Click here to view information and recordings from the June16, 2002 Town Hall meeting held at the Mead Fire Hall.
Click here to view the University of Nebraska Medical Center, College of Public Health's webpage on "Tracking contamination around a closed ethanol plant."
Click Part 1 and Part 2 of Green Bellevue's virtual Panel Presentation: "Why What Happened in Mead, NE Should Concern All Nebraskans."
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Historical: 2007 publication 'Roadbuilders' Edge,' (touting a so-called 'closed loop technology')
Page maintained by David E. Corbin