WASHINGTON, DC -- Twelve ethanol plants in Minnesota have agreed to install new pollution control equipment to slash their emissions of volatile organic compounds and carbon monoxide. The settlements between the plants, the state and the federal government are the first to mandate air pollution reductions from the ethanol manufacturing industry.
The new emissions equipment required by the settlements will help cut the plants' emissions of volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter and other hazardous air pollutants, including probable carcinogens such as acetaldehyde and formaldehyde. The 12 plants together produce more than 400 million gallons of ethanol per year, or about 17 percent of the nation's ethanol production.
An ethanol production plant in York, Nebraska.
(Photo by Chris Standlee. All photos courtesy
National Renewable Energy Laboratory)
The Department of Justice, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the state of Minnesota charged the facilities with operating in violation of the Clean Air Act's New Source Review (NSR) provisions. The NSR program requires industries including power plants and manufacturers to install new pollution controls and other environmental equipment when they expand or upgrade their facilities. "This is a success story for everyone involved and a sign of continued progress with the ethanol industry," said Tom Sansonetti, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's environment and natural resources division. "These companies are to be commended for working cooperatively with state and federal officials to achieve compliance with the New Source Review requirements of the Clean Air Act."
The Bush administration has proposed to alter the NSR program, creating loopholes that would allow some aging facilities to pollute at their current levels, or even increase emissions, without installing new emission controls. The proposed changes could make it harder to reach settlements like the one reached with the ethanol industry in Minnesota.
The Minnesota ethanol plants agreed to install air pollution control equipment that will reduce emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOC) by 2,400 to 4,000 tons per year and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions by 2,000 tons per year. The settlement will also reduce nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions by 180 tons per year, particulate matter (PM) by 450 tons and other hazardous air pollutants by 250 tons.
"The Minnesota plants are leading the way by installing the appropriate controls and greatly reducing their emissions. These settlements will set the standard in the ethanol manufacturing industry and we hope others will follow quickly," said John Peter Suarez, the EPA's assistant administrator for enforcement and compliance assurance.
Ethanol is primarily a product of industrial corn, and is used as an automobile fuel alone or blended with gasoline. Ethanol's high oxygen content allows automobile engines to combust fuel more efficiently, reducing tail pipe emissions. Under 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act, urban areas with air pollution problems must sell reformulated gasoline containing an oxygenate such as ethanol to help reduce pollution from motor vehicles, particularly during the summer months. But during the ethanol manufacturing process, ethanol mills can burn off gasses that emit VOCs and CO into the air.
Under the settlements, the plants will install thermal oxidizers that reduce VOC emissions by 95 percent and meet new, more restrictive emission limits for NOx, PM, carbon monoxide and hazardous air pollutants. In addition to emission control requirements valued at about $2 million per plant, each facility will also pay a civil penalty ranging from $29,000 to $39,000.
The state of Minnesota, through the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) and the state attorney general's Office teamed with the federal government in the settlement negotiations to resolve the companies' alleged violations and to bring the facilities into compliance.
"The bottom line of this settlement is cleaner, healthier air for Minnesota," said MPCA commissioner Karen Studders. "The ethanol industry, by implementing the new technology to reduce its air emissions, is demonstrating that it shares the same concern to protect our environment."
The settlements are part of ongoing preparations for a major expansion of the ethanol industry. Congress is now developing an energy bill that would provide $5 billion in subsidies for the ethanol industry. Lawmakers have also proposed to exempt ethanol producers from liability when people become sick from drinking polluted water.
The push comes in part because of health and environmental concerns over methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), another gasoline oxygenate that now pollutes soil and groundwater in many parts of the nation. In addition, studies by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and others have confirmed the energy efficiency of ethanol, suggesting that its use as an alternative fuel could help reduce the nation's dependence on fossil fuels.
But increasing concerns about the environmental impacts of ethanol production have prompted states and the EPA to investigate the industry's emissions, finding that many plants are emitting far more pollution than permitted. The EPA, facing potential inspections and meetings with dozens of ethanol plants across the country, is hoping to reach broad settlements with groups of plants.
"We feel that this approach can give certainty to the industry by quickly addressing state and federal concerns, and resolving them on terms most favorable to the industry," the EPA explained in a letter sent by the agency to Midwestern ethanol plant representatives earlier this year.
EPA regional administrator Tom Skinner met with representatives from the ethanol industry on June 3, 2002, to discuss emission test results and proposed pollution control technology. Skinner heads the Chicago EPA office that oversees environmental compliance in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin and 35 North American tribes.
Ethanol manufacturing plant in South Bend, Indiana
operated by the New Energy
Company of Indiana.
(Photo by Warren Gretz)
One of the plants covered by the settlement - Ethanol 2000 of Bingham Lake, Minnesota - was targeted last week by the Sierra Club, which announced its intention to sue two Midwest ethanol producers over Clean Air Act violations. The EPA says the federal/state settlement with Ethanol 2000 addresses the environmental group's concerns, though it does not cover the other facility named by the Sierra Club, the New Energy Corporation of South Bend, Indiana.
"By the EPA's own admission, these two plants are only the tip of the iceberg," said David Bookbinder, senior attorney with the Sierra Club. "There's a clear pattern in this industry of systematic disregard for the law. These lawsuits should serve as a warning to the entire industry to clean up their act, and to the EPA to enforce the law."
|
If you have come to this page from an outside location click here to get back to mindfully.org |