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In mid-February, Posi-Shell, a combination of cement, clay and polyester fibers, was applied to a pile of wet cake and sludge produced by the AltEn ethanol plant near Mead. 

The Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy has given initial approval to a plan for disposing of an estimated 115 million gallons of pesticide-contaminated wastewater being stored in holding ponds at AltEn.

Developed and submitted by the AltEn Facility Response Group — six seed companies voluntarily cleaning up the site — the plan calls for applying treated wastewater across 736 acres of farm ground south of Mead in Saunders County.

The process, which involves pumping water from AltEn’s damaged lagoons through a water treatment system and into a pair of new lagoons completed earlier this year, was granted a permit by the state’s environmental department earlier this year.

Depending on precipitation, the efficacy of the treatment process and conditions of the soil on the seven parcels that will receive the wastewater, the environmental engineers contracted by the response group estimate another 18 to 24 million gallons could be land-applied this fall and next spring.

While efforts to draw down the wastewater stored on site has been moving forward slowly for the better part of this year, the question of how to dispose of an estimated 99,000 tons of solid waste piled up on AltEn’s site remains open.

Earlier this year, the wet distiller’s grains — a solid byproduct of ethanol production commonly referred to as wet cake — were entombed under a Posi-Shell cover, a combination of clay, polyester fibers and Portland cement.

The AltEn Facility Response Group said the temporary cover was installed to keep odors under control, tamp down pesticide-contaminated dust and prevent stormwater from coming into contact with the contaminated material.

Last month, at a meeting with a small group of Mead residents, the facility response group said it was evaluating four potential solutions for disposing of the wet cake, with the goal of submitting a formal plan to the Department of Environment and Energy before the end of the year.

Those options, according to a memo about the meeting posted to the Department of Environment and Energy’s website, include:

* Hauling and burying the contaminated wet cake in a landfill.

* Hauling the wet cake to an offsite incinerator.

* “Thermal treatment” — not incineration — on-site.

* Burying the wet cake at AltEn.

Don Gunster, a partner and senior scientist at NewFields, the environmental engineering firm conducting much of the cleanup, said the options are being explored before the AltEn Facility Response Group submits a remedial action plan for the solid waste.

In mid-February, Posi-Shell, a combination of cement, clay and polyester fibers, was applied to a pile of wet cake and sludge produced by the AltEn ethanol plant near Mead. 

“The (facility response group) is still collecting data about each of the options being evaluated for management of the wet cake and sludge,” Gunster said in an email. “More details will be shared with the community and included in the Solids (remedial action plan) once that data has been collected and evaluated.”

Some of the options have already been deemed unworkable, however, because of excessive costs, a lack of capacity or doubts about the technology that would need to be used.

And at least one — making AltEn the final burial site for the solid waste — is a non-starter for residents of Mead, who worked for years to draw attention to the environmental issues arising from the failed ethanol plant.

In the year before AltEn was forced by the Department of Environment and Energy to close, the ethanol plant hauled an estimated 43,000 tons of wet cake to landfills operated by Waste Connections near David City, Milford and Malvern, Iowa.

Most of that — at least 39,000 tons — was trucked down Nebraska 92 to the Butler County Landfill, until Waste Connections cut AltEn off, saying it did not have enough dry garbage to mix with the wet distiller’s grains.

Kelly Danielson, the district manager who oversees the Waste Connections facility, said there are no plans to restart accepting solid waste from AltEn.

“We have not heard anything from either group nor has anyone requested authorization to deliver the waste stream to us,” Danielson said in an email.

The facility response group also explored the option of moving the wet cake by rail to Clean Harbors-operated incinerators in Kimball and other states last summer but scrapped the idea, which would be costly and complicated.

Ash Grove, a concrete plant that opened in Louisville earlier this year, received a permit from the state to burn biomass in its kilns but confirmed to the Journal Star it has not received any wet cake from AltEn, nor does it plan to do so in the future.

AltEn previously attempted to turn the wet cake into biochar, the process of heating it to a few thousand degrees to create a charcoal-like material, but samples analyzed by the environmental department showed it did not reduce the levels of pesticides within.

The state also intervened to stop AltEn from selling biochar to a Kansas farmer late last year.

An Iowa-based company — Independence Energy — has pitched its own process of using heat to breakdown the wet cake and the chemicals within to both residents of Mead as well as the Department of Environment and Energy, but its proposal has not been explored in-depth.

Watch now: Work to install temporary cover over toxic pile at AltEn has finished

Sixth seed company sues AltEn; Bayer alleges owners mishandled insurance claim

Two people who have met with state regulators and the AltEn Facility Response Group said the plan that appears to be favored for cleanup would include repairing one of the lagoons at the plant to serve as a containment cell that would later be buried.

Bill Thorson, the chair of the Mead Board of Trustees, said he told the response group that such a plan would draw fierce opposition from the village of nearly 600 people.

A little more than a decade ago, residents of Mead successfully fought off a plan by Waste Connections to open a 320-acre landfill near AltEn that would have accepted roughly 1,200 tons of garbage per day from Omaha and Saunders County.

“We had a landfill that didn’t pass because of the water table and the aquifer,” Thorson said, referring to the Todd Valley aquifer, on which Mead and AltEn both sit. “I told them, ‘I can assure you that’s not going to pass.’”

Any proposal for turning AltEn into a landfill to bury the waste it generated would be running uphill and against the wind.

Mead annexed the land AltEn sits on before its predecessor, E3 Biofuels, opened in 2007, giving authority over any zoning changes and conditional use permits to the Village Board of Trustees, which revoked the company's ability to operate as an ethanol plant in June 2021.

AltEn would also need to receive a permit from the state to operate as a landfill. A 2021 lawsuit against the company faulted AltEn for operating as a solid waste management facility despite never having a permit to do so.

Thorson said he and others in Mead do not see burying the wet cake in a containment cell on the property as a viable cleanup option.

Rather, he said, it would be another temporary fix to a problem that has plagued the town since 2015.

“If it’s a money thing, I’d just as soon see it be a Superfund site,” he said. “I have a feeling that’s what it is anyway.”

Smaller funding package for AltEn research study advances

Watch Now: AltEn asks for new permit to discharge wastewater; but several residents question plan

'I am terrified' — AltEn study finds pesticides in Mead woman's home

State renews AltEn's permit to land-apply treated wastewater

Scientists from across country lending expertise to AltEn study

A burst pipe late last week in a 4 million gallon digester tank at the AltEn Ethanol plant near Mead sent liquid manure and thin stillage, a byproduct of the ethanol manufacturing process, into waterways and culverts up to 4 miles from the plant.

Mead AltEn Ethanol plant. COURTESY PHOTO

A burst pipe late last week in a 4 million gallon digester tank at the AltEn Ethanol plant near Mead sent liquid manure and thin stillage, a byproduct of the ethanol manufacturing process, into waterways and culverts up to 4 miles from the plant.

A burst pipe late last week in a 4 million-gallon digester tank at the AltEn Ethanol plant near Mead sent liquid manure and thin stillage, a byproduct of the ethanol manufacturing process, into waterways and culverts up to 4 miles from the plant.

A burst pipe late last week in a 4 million gallon digester tank at the AltEn Ethanol plant near Mead sent liquid manure and thin stillage, a byproduct of the ethanol manufacturing process, into waterways and culverts up to 4 miles from the plant.

A burst pipe late last week in a 4 million gallon digester tank at the AltEn Ethanol plant near Mead sent liquid manure and thin stillage, a byproduct of the ethanol manufacturing process, into waterways and culverts up to 4 miles from the plant.

A burst pipe late last week in a 4 million gallon digester tank at the AltEn Ethanol plant near Mead sent liquid manure and thin stillage, a byproduct of the ethanol manufacturing process, into waterways and culverts up to 4 miles from the plant.

A burst pipe late last week in a 4 million gallon digester tank at the AltEn Ethanol plant near Mead sent liquid manure and thin stillage, a byproduct of the ethanol manufacturing process, into waterways and culverts up to 4 miles from the plant.

A burst pipe late last week in a 4 million-gallon digester tank at the AltEn Ethanol plant near Mead sent liquid manure and thin stillage, a byproduct of the ethanol manufacturing process, into waterways and culverts up to 4 miles from the plant.

The Department of Environment and Energy ordered AltEn Ethanol near Mead to shut down in early February, dispose of millions of gallons of contaminated wastewater on the site and repair lagoons in violation of state regulations.

Unlike other ethanol plants, AltEn used treated seed instead of harvested grain for its fuel production. The byproduct from that process and wastewater near the plant have been found to carry levels of pesticides and fungicides above limits set by the Environmental Protection Agency.

AltEn Ethanol has been the subject of dozens of complaints since it reopened near Mead in 2015 related to an odor coming from the byproduct of its ethanol process, seen here at the beginning of the month. The byproduct has been found to carry levels of pesticides and fungicides above limits set by the Environmental Protection Agency.

AltEn ethanol plant is seen in this photo, Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021. 

AltEn shut down its operations on Feb. 8 after an order by the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy. The state found three lagoons on the site were contaminated, badly damaged and holding more wastewater than permitted.

AltEn is unique among ethanol plants in that it uses seeds pre-treated with pesticides to produce ethanol instead of harvested grain. It ceased operation on Feb. 8 after a state order.

MEAD, NEB. - 02/04/2021 - A view of Mead, including the grain elevators with Frontier Cooperative, Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021. JUSTIN WAN, Journal Star

Emptied treated seed bags are stacked at the AltEn company in this photo taken in April 2019 during a Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy inspection. The ethanol plant near Mead used the seed to produce ethanol and the byproduct from the process to create soil conditioner sold to area farmers.

AltEn Ethanol has been the subject of dozens of complaints since it reopened near Mead in 2015 related to an odor coming from the byproduct of its ethanol process. The byproduct has been found to carry levels of pesticides and fungicides above limits set by the Environmental Protection Agency.

A pipe burst on a 4 million-gallon digester tank at the AltEn Ethanol plant near Mead late last week, releasing waste material into the waterways and culverts more than 4 miles from the plant, according to the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy.

A notification of environmental concern inspection report from Feb. 12, 2021, noted "flow, dark water and odor," in water pictured on University of Nebraska-Lincoln property. A pipe burst on a 4 million-gallon digester tank at the AltEn Ethanol plant near Mead late last week, releasing waste material into the waterways and culverts more than 4 miles from the plant, according to the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy,

University of Nebraska-Lincoln personnel using a backhoe to place bales and plastic to dam the culvert on UNL property near Mead after a pipe burst on a 4 million-gallon digester tank at the AltEn Ethanol plant late last week, releasing waste material into the waterways and culverts more than 4 miles from the plant, according to the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy.

A notification of environmental concern inspection report from Feb. 12 noted "flow, dark water and odor," in water pictured on UNL property after a pipe burst on a 4 million-gallon digester tank at AltEn Ethanol near Mead, releasing waste material into the waterways and culverts more than 4 miles from the plant, according to the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy.

Water pools west of the leaking digester at Mead AltEn Ethanol on Feb. 12 after a pipe burst on a 4 million-gallon digester tank late last week, releasing waste material into the waterways and culverts more than 4 miles from the plant, according to the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy.

A depth finder measures flow from a leak on Feb. 12 after a pipe burst on a 4 million-gallon digester tank at AltEn Ethanol near Mead late last week, releasing waste material into the waterways and culverts more than 4 miles from the plant, according to the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy.

Mead AltEn Ethanol employees use trash pumps to transport water into an emergency lagoon on Feb. 12. A pipe burst on a 4 million-gallon digester tank at the plant late last week, releasing waste material into the waterways and culverts more than 4 miles from the plant, according to the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy.

Mead AltEn Ethanol employees work to install a trash pump to transport water into an emergency lagoon on Feb. 12. A pipe burst on a 4 million-gallon digester tank at the plant late last week, releasing waste material into the waterways and culverts more than 4 miles from the plant, according to the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy.

Water exits the damaged area (blue arrow) of a 4 million-gallon digester tank at AltEn Ethanol near Mead on Feb. 12, releasing waste material into the waterways and culverts more than 4 miles from the plant, according to the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy.

A crew works to remove waste material from a culvert southeast of AltEn Ethanol on Tuesday in Saunders County. 

Saunders County Supervisors David Lutton (from left), Doris Karloff and Craig Breunig listen to Saunders County Attorney Joe Dobesh (not seen) speak about communications with state officials about AltEn Ethanol in February in Wahoo. 

An earthen dam blocks the flow of waste material in a waterway southeast of AltEn Ethanol last week in Saunders County. 

Saunders County Attorney Joe Dobesh talks about his communication with state officials about AltEn Ethanol at a Saunders County Board of Supervisors meeting in late February in Wahoo. 

A crew works to remove waste material from a culvert southeast of AltEn Ethanol on Tuesday in Saunders County.

The Saunders County Board of Supervisors listens to Saunders County Attorney Joe Dobesh (not pictured) speak about communications with state officials about AltEn Ethanol on Tuesday during the board's meeting in Wahoo. 

A crew works to remove waste material from a culvert southeast of AltEn Ethanol on Tuesday in Saunders County.

Saunders County Supervisors David Lutton, Doris Karloff and Craig Breunig listen to Saunders County Attorney Joe Dobesh speaks about communications with state officials about AltEn Ethanol on Tuesday during the board's meeting in Wahoo. 

The AltEn plant near Mead, which the state shut down earlier this year, is shown on Aug. 25. Along with the toxic solids spread on land surrounding the site, the environmental cleanup is also focused on removing pesticides from wastewater on the site.

This 2021 Google Maps image shows a location north of Mead where AltEn's distiller's grains were stockpiled in a cornfield.

Evelyn and Stan Keiser had hoped to build a cabin on their property near a pond created by Stan Keiser's grandfather. The pond, once teeming with wildlife, is now a dead zone after pesticide-contaminated wastewater from the AltEn ethanol plant near Mead flowed downstream. The Keisers were also recently notified that their private well, which provides their drinking water, contains contaminants.

Pesticide contaminated water that has run off from the AltEn ethanol plant near Mead has been responsible for rendering Stan and Evelyn Keiser's farm pond a dead zone.

Curtis Pearson of Mead talks Thursday during a meeting at Mead Covenant Church about the troubled AltEn ethanol plant near the town.

Stan Keiser talks Thursday during a meeting at Mead Covenant Church about the troubled AltEn ethanol plant near the town.

Reach the writer at 402-473-7120 or cdunker@journalstar.com.

Originally published on journalstar.com, part of the TownNews Content Exchange.