Wastewater spills at ethanol plant blamed on pipe bursts

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A frozen pipe has burst at a Nebraska ethanol plant that had been ordered to close a week ago, causing a wastewater spill, environmental officials say.

The AltEn ethanol plant reported the accidental discharge early Friday at the facility near Mead, the Omaha World-Herald reports.

Personnel at an adjacent University of Nebraska-Lincoln agricultural research, extension and education center worked to contain the spill. And the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy said in a news release that it sent staff and was monitoring the situation.

The state also ordered AltEn to dispose of its leftover grain by March 1, either by dumping it in a licensed landfill or incinerating it. The leftover grain can’t be used as cattle feed because the facility uses seed corn, which is coated in pesticides and herbicides.

It’s been left in piles around the plant, and residents in the area complain that it smells.

Plant officials did not respond immediately to requests for comment on Friday but said earlier in the week that they were working to resolve the lagoon problems.