[Pollinator] Ethanol Plant Causes Severe Pesticide Contamination in Nebraska

Mon Jan 11 11:35:06 PST 2021

Following on from the Guardian article I sent a few hours ago, here’s a
blog from the Xerces Society about the situation in Nebraska where
illnesses in local residents and their pets as well as honey bee kills are
apparently related to processing of unused pesticide-coated seed corn into
biofuel at an ethanol plant.

You can read it at
https://xerces.org/blog/ethanol-plant-causes-severe-pesticide-contamination-in-nebraska

Matthew

**************

*Ethanol Plant Causes Severe Pesticide Contamination in Nebraska*

Sarah Hoyle & Scott Black

*Unsold pesticide-treated seed corn is used for ethanol production,
resulting in pollution that puts people and pollinators at risk, and
raising questions about disposal practices across the seed industry.*

---

Researchers at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln noticed honey bees at one
of their research sites were dying at an alarming rate, while hives at
other locations seemed healthy. They then learned that local residents were
reporting mysterious odors and strange illnesses in people, pets, and
wildlife. Had there been a spill of industrial chemicals? Was there some
other poison causing the problems?

The scale of the bee kills that the researchers observed suggested a major
contamination of the landscape, so they began looking for a source.
Pesticide testing results from a research project came back with
astronomically high levels in milkweed plants. Higher levels of pesticides
in milkweed close to a creek—100 times higher than found in plants further
away—led them to ask questions about potential contaminants in waterways.
Eventually, this led to a tip about a nearby ethanol plant that was
reportedly using pesticide-treated seed to make ethanol, resulting in
byproducts that were contaminating the community.

It turns out that the bee kills were connected to systemic pesticide
pollution, especially neonicotinoid insecticides
<https://xerces.org/pesticides/understanding-neonicotinoids>—neonics. These
are the same pesticides that are linked to honey bee losses across the
United States and the decline of native invertebrate species around the
world. Neonics are commonly applied to many seeds before they are planted.
Corn is the major crop
<https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/biofuels/ethanol.php> used for ethanol
production in the United States, and the vast majority of seed corn is
coated with neonicotinoids and other pesticides. This is a major
environmental problem in itself as contamination from planted seed impacts
wildlife in and around crop fields. Despite their widespread use, we still lack
critical information
<https://xerces.org/blog/sowing-uncertainty-pesticide-treated-seed> on how
and where pesticide-treated seeds are planted.

While planting of treated seed is a known environmental issue, however, the
risks associated with handling and disposal of leftover treated seed are
only now coming to light. Millions of pounds of treated seed are left
unplanted each year. This cannot be sold to farmers for future use because
seed germination rates go down over time. Instead, the seed is given to the
ethanol plant for processing into biofuel. This may seem like a win-win for
the businesses—cheap disposal for the seed company and free raw material
for the ethanol plant—but it is a huge loss for the environment and local
communities. The pesticide residues on the seeds remain in the solid and
wastewater byproducts of ethanol production, making them extremely toxic.

The crux of this situation is that although treated seed is coated with a
toxic mix of insecticides and fungicides, these seeds are not regulated as
pesticides—and thus, there is little oversight on how the plant handles and
disposes of treated corn seed and contaminated byproducts.

Beyond processing treated seeds, the ethanol plant has failed to maintain
basic protections to limit off-site contamination, and has even sold and
applied contaminated byproducts to local farms as fertilizers and soil
conditioners. Wastewater in the plant’s lagoons is contaminated with
clothianidin (a highly toxic neonic) at levels up to 10,000 times above the
EPA’s acute freshwater invertebrate benchmark. (A recent article in The
Guardian
<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/10/mead-nebraska-ethanol-plant-pollution-danger>
gives more information on neonic levels measured in waste stored at the
plant.) This wastewater can be discharged into local streams, likely
resulting in the high levels of clothianidin measured in milkweed growing
near a creek. The plant’s lagoons are also poorly maintained, leading the
state to require them to install groundwater monitoring wells this fall,
but sampling results are not yet available. Pesticide contamination of the
surrounding area has also occurred from the plant’s solid waste. Solid
byproducts applied to fields contain clothianidin at levels up to 85 times
the maximum application rate if it were clothianidin-treated seed being
planted. This far exceeds levels that could kill a wide variety of species,
including bees, butterflies, and aquatic invertebrates.

The plant continues to use treated seed to produce ethanol and has a
growing stockpile of byproduct on site. Efforts by state regulators have so
far failed to stop these troubling practices—in part because they are
hamstrung by the fact that treated seeds are not considered pesticides.
Even though pesticide regulations don’t apply, the contamination is severe
enough to trigger other environmental violations. State regulators have
issued numerous violations, yet the plant remains stubbornly out of
compliance. According to assessments by state regulators, the plant’s
byproducts contained at least 16 different pesticides at high levels.
However, this is possibly an underestimate as the state only tested for a
limited number of pesticides.

This contamination, and the state’s inability to halt it, raises the larger
concern that current federal regulation fails to ensure the proper handling
and disposal of pesticide-treated seed. The federal government exempts
treated seed through the treated articles exemption
<https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/40/152.25>, leaving regulators
without clear oversight to prevent its mishandling. Given the absence of
federal oversight, Xerces and our partners are working to address this
loophole at the state level in the United States. Already, we have asked
the state of California to regulate treated seed as pesticides
<https://xerces.org/blog/new-report-how-neonicotinoids-can-kill-bees>.
Other states should also consider greater oversight of pesticide-treated
seed.

Xerces is working to bring attention to this issue
<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/10/mead-nebraska-ethanol-plant-pollution-danger>
and ensure that treated seed is disposed according to pesticide disposal
regulations. This is critical in order to clean up this site and protect
the community, and to avoid having other areas experience the severe
contamination witnessed in Nebraska. Regulators and the seed industry must
take action to ensure that excess seed does not lead to similar situations
in other communities.

*Further Reading*

More information about neonicotinoids and their impacts
<file:///C:/Users/aimee.code/Downloads/Understanding%20Neonicotinoids>

Xerces blog: Sowing Uncertainty: What We Do and Don’t Know about the
Planting of Pesticide-Treated Seed
<https://xerces.org/blog/sowing-uncertainty-pesticide-treated-seed>

Read other articles about neonics on our blog
<https://xerces.org/blog/tag/neonicotinoids>

The Guardian (1/10/21): ‘There’s a red flag here’: how an ethanol plant is
dangerously polluting a US village
<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/10/mead-nebraska-ethanol-plant-pollution-danger>

----------

Matthew Shepherd

Director of Communications & Outreach

*he/him/his*

[image: Email-Outlook_Xerces-logo-CMYK]

Protecting the Life That Sustains Us

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