Bad news for the AltEn site. Big storms are possible tomorrow and all is not well on this site. Recent inspections show animal burrows in the wetcake berm. Stormwater runoff from the polyshell is being allowed to discharge into the area even though drone photos show that the polyshell has cracked (as many predicted) and liquid waste is pooling on top of the pile. According to the NDEE site, pumping will begin soon to move additional runoff from the wetcake pile to the NorthWest lagoon which had been rapidly decreasing in depth with no explanation. It’s either leeching into the ground or running onto neighbors lands through animal tunnels. The level of untreated wastewater and sludge in that same lagoon has decreased over 5 feet as of March 7th and has since decreased another foot. NOTE: The AltEn plant was an outlier and should not be compared with our other exceptional ethanol plants here in Nebraska who continue to be good stewards
Original source can be found here.
