The clean-up underway at the AltEn ethanol plant at Mead will be the topic of a free Jan. 6 webinar sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Lincoln/Lancaster County.
Speakers will be Al Davis, former state senator and current lobbyist for the Sierra Club, and Leesa Zalesky, a freelance journalist who has covered AltEn extensively.
Seed companies began last fall to clean up piles of contaminated wet cake after the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy closed down the plant earlier in the year. The plant converted pesticide-treated seeds into ethanol, producing wet distiller’s grain as a byproduct and piling it up near the plant where it began to leach into soil and water.
“AltEn is an example of what can go wrong when industry ignores rules and government is reluctant to address those wrongs in a timely manner,” Davis said. “It will require years of monitoring, millions of dollars in research and cleanup and will have still-unknown ramifications to the humans, mammals, insects and birds that came in contact with the byproducts.”
The Jan. 6 program will take place from noon to 1 p.m. It is one of a series of informational webinars covering current topics sponsored by the League on the first Thursday of each month from September through May. The pandemic spurred the move from in-person to Zoom programs, which are open to the public at no charge.
Those wishing to register should email lwvlunchandlearn@gmail.com by Monday, Jan. 3. They will receive the Zoom link via return email and will automatically be registered to receive notice of future League programs.
For over 100 years, the League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan political organization, has encouraged informed and active participation in government, worked to increase understanding of major public policy issues and influenced public policy through education and advocacy. Membership is open to all.
For more information or to join the League, go to www.lincolnleague.org.
AltEn clean-up is topic of Thursday LWV webinar - Lincoln Journal Star
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