'A big crisis in our state' — Bill to ban ethanol companies from using treated seed advances

Mar 26, 2021 at 01:22 PM CST
State lawmakers Thursday unanimously advanced a bill (LB507) from Sen. Bruce Bostelman prohibiting the use of treated seed to make ethanol if the byproducts were deemed unsafe to feed to livestock or apply to the land. Both criteria included in the Brainard senator’s legislation would apply in AltEn’s case, where the wet distiller’s grains byproduct normally fed to cattle, as well as the wastewater stored in lagoons on site, were discovered to be heavily contaminated with pesticides deadly to pollinators and other wildlife.

Mar 26, 2021 at 01:22 PM CST

State lawmakers Thursday unanimously advanced a bill (LB507) from Sen. Bruce Bostelman prohibiting the use of treated seed to make ethanol if the byproducts were deemed unsafe to feed to livestock or apply to the land. Both criteria included in the Brainard senator’s legislation would apply in AltEn’s case, where the wet distiller’s grains byproduct normally fed to cattle, as well as the wastewater stored in lagoons on site, were discovered to be heavily contaminated with pesticides deadly to pollinators and other wildlife.