BILL BANNING ETHANOL COMPANIES FROM USING TREATED SEED ADVANCES

LINCOLN- Lawmakers gave first-round approval to a bill prohibiting the use of pesticide-treated seeds in ethanol production on Thursday.

The bill (LB507) from Sen. Bruce Bostelman of Brainard was introduced in response to the environmental contamination stemming from AltEn near Mead in Saunders County.

Unlike most ethanol plants which use field corn as a feedstock, AltEn solicited for and used discard treated seed to produce ethanol, at one point receiving nearly all of the leftover treated seeds in North America. The wet distiller's grains byproduct of the ethanol manufacturing process, normally sold as a feed for cattle, was heavily contaminated with pesticides, as was the wastewater stored in lagoons on the site.

AltEn stopped its operations in February, and a short time later experienced a burst pipe that spilled 4 million gallons of contaminated waste into ditches and waterways of the surrounding area.

The Nebraska Attorney General's office sued AltEn on March 1 for numerous violations of state environmental regulations.

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