MEAD- A pilot project to discover how best to remove and dispose of a 14-acre pile of pesticide-laden "wet cake" from the site of the now-notorious AltEn ethanol plants has resumed after a delay that was blamed on equipment breakdowns. Two excavators began work on Monday to mix the wet cake with bentonite so it could be shipped to a landfill outside of Omaha without creating odor or dust issues.

The odor generated by the spent grain had been described as "putrid" by residents near the former plant, which was ordered closed by the state in February of 2021 after the owners failed to comply with orders to properly clean up the piles of wet cake and wastewater left behind. After a nearby landfill stopped accepting the waste grain, it began piling up at the site south of Mead.

The pile grew to cover 14 acres, and is estimated to contain 115,000 tons of waste. Last fall, NewFields, the company hired to clean up the AltEn site, shipped roughly 10,000 tons of spent grain to a landfill near Bennington. Cold weather suspended efforts throughout winter. Officials had hoped to resume the project in early May, but more preparation work was necessary to avoid mechanical breakdowns.

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