MEAD- A coalition of seed companies that have assumed the responsibility of cleaning up contaminated solid and liquid waste at the former Mead ethanol plant is ready to begin removing pesticide-laden wet cake starting next month. The AltEn Facility Response Group, made up of six seed industry organizations that formerly sent unused seed to the biofuel plant, will detail plans for the disposal of roughly 24,000 tons of wet cake at a town hall in Saunders County this week.

So far, the initial plan will be to send around 20% of the solid waste, which is now entombed under a concrete and clay cover at the site, to the Pheasant Point landfill near Bennington over a period of four to five months. The facility response group, having completed that first phase of cleanup, will then reevaluate the situation and formulate the second plan of attack.

"It may seem pretty straightforward," said Bill Butler, a senior engineer working on the cleanup project, "but there are some technical things that we have to look at to evaluate whether this is something we can do on a full scale." The initial cleanup project is expected to give the coalition an idea of how fast it can process, load, and transport the wet cake in a safe way that will have minimal impact on Mead and the surrounding area.

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