Pollution Is Called a Byproduct of a *Clean * Fuel

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Pollution Is Called a Byproduct of a Œ Clean ¹ Fuel

 

 

_http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/11/us/11biofuel.html?pagewanted=all_

(http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/11/us/11biofuel.html?pagewanted=all)

 

 

 

 

 

Pollution Is Called a Byproduct of a ŒClean¹ Fuel

By BRENDA GOODMAN

 

MOUNDVILLE, Ala. ‹ After residents of the Riverbend Farms subdivision

noticed that an oily, fetid substance had begun fouling the Black Warrior

River, which runs through their backyards, Mark Storey, a retired petroleum

plant worker, hopped into his boat to follow it upstream to its source.

 

It turned out to be an old chemical factory that had been converted into

Alabama¹s first biodiesel plant, a refinery that intended to turn soybean

oil into earth-friendly fuel.

 

³I¹m all for the plant,² Mr. Storey said. ³But I was really amazed that a

plant like that would produce anything that could get into the river without

taking the necessary precautions.²

 

But the oily sheen on the water returned again and again, and a laboratory

analysis of a sample taken in March 2007 revealed that the ribbon of oil and

grease being released by the plant ‹ it resembled Italian salad dressing ‹

was 450 times higher than permit levels typically allow, and that it had

drifted at least two miles downstream.

 

The spills, at the Alabama Biodiesel Corporation plant outside this city

about 17 miles from Tuscaloosa, are similar to others that have come from

biofuel plants in the Midwest. The discharges, which can be hazardous to

birds and fish, have many people scratching their heads over the seeming

incongruity of pollution from an industry that sells products with the

promise of blue skies and clear streams.

 

³Ironic, isn¹t it?² said Barbara Lynch, who supervises environmental

compliance inspectors for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. ³This is

big business. There¹s a lot of money involved.²

 

Iowa leads the nation in biofuel production, with 42 ethanol and biodiesel

refineries in production and 18 more plants under construction, according to

the Renewable Fuels Association. In the summer of 2006, a Cargill biodiesel

plant in Iowa Falls improperly disposed of 135,000 gallons of liquid oil and

grease, which ran into a stream killing hundreds of fish.

 

According to the National Biodiesel Board, a trade group, biodiesel is

nontoxic, biodegradable and suitable for sensitive environments, but

scientists say that position understates its potential environmental impact.

 

³They¹re really considered nontoxic, as you would expect,² said Bruce P.

Hollebone, a researcher with Environment Canada in Ottawa and one of the

world¹s leading experts on the environmental impact of vegetable oil and

glycerin spills.

 

³You can eat the stuff, after all,² Mr. Hollebone said. ³But as with most

organic materials, oil and glycerin deplete the oxygen content of water very

quickly, and that will suffocate fish and other organisms. And for birds, a

vegetable oil spill is just as deadly as a crude oil spill.²

 

Other states have also felt the impact.

 

Leanne Tippett Mosby, a deputy division director of environmental quality

for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, said she was warned a year

ago by colleagues in other states that biodiesel producers were dumping

glycerin, the main byproduct of biodiesel production, contaminated with

methanol, another waste product that is classified as hazardous.

 

Glycerin, an alcohol that is normally nontoxic, can be sold for secondary

uses, but it must be cleaned first, a process that is expensive and

complicated. Expanded production of biodiesel has flooded the market with

excess glycerin, making it less cost-effective to clean and sell.

 

Ms. Tippett Mosby did not have to wait long to see the problem. In October,

an anonymous caller reported that a tanker truck was dumping milky white

goop into Belle Fountain Ditch, one of the many man-made channels that drain

Missouri¹s Bootheel region. That substance turned out to be glycerin from a

biodiesel plant.

 

In January, a grand jury indicted a Missouri businessman in the discharge,

which killed at least 25,000 fish and wiped out the population of fat

pocketbook mussels, an endangered species.

 

Back in Alabama, Nelson Brooke of Black Warrior Riverkeeper, a nonprofit

organization dedicated to protecting and restoring the Black Warrior River

and its tributaries, received a report in September 2006 of a fish kill that

stretched 20 miles downstream from Moundville. Even though Mr. Brooke said

he found oil in the water around the dead fish, the state Department of

Environmental Management determined that natural, seasonal changes in oxygen

levels in the water could have been the culprit. The agency did not charge

Alabama Biodiesel.

 

In August, Black Warrior Riverkeeper, in a complaint filed in Federal

District Court, documented at least 24 occasions when oil was spotted in the

water near the plant.

 

Richard Campo, vice president of Alabama Biodiesel, did not respond to

requests for an interview, but Clay A. Tindal, a Tuscaloosa lawyer

representing the refinery, called the suit¹s claims ³sheer speculation,

conjecture, and unsupported bald allegations.² Mr. Tindal said that ³for

various reasons,² the plant was not now producing fuel.

 

The company has filed a motion to dismiss the complaint on the ground that

it has entered into a settlement agreement with state officials that

requires it to pay a $12,370 fine and to obtain proper discharge permits.

 

Don Scott, an engineer for the National Biodiesel Board, acknowledges that

some producers have had problems complying with environmental rules but says

those violations have been infrequent in an industry that nearly doubled in

size in one year, to 160 plants in the United States at the end of 2007 from

90 plants at the end of 2006.

 

Mr. Scott said that the board had been working with state and environmental

agencies to educate member companies and that the troubles were ³growing

pains.²

 

Ms. Lynch said some of the violations were the result of an industry that

was inexperienced in the manufacturing process and its wastes. But in other

instances, she said, companies are skirting the permit process to get their

plants up and running faster.

 

³Our fines are only so high,² Ms. Lynch said. ³It¹s build first, permit

second.²

 

In October 2005, the Alabama Department of Environmental Management informed

Alabama Biodiesel that it would need an individual pollution discharge

permit to operate, but the company never applied for one. The company

operated for more than a year without a permit and without facing any

penalties from state regulators, though inspectors documented unpermitted

discharges on two occasions.

 

For some, the troubles of the industry seem to outweigh its benefits.

 

³They¹re environmental Jimmy Swaggarts, in my opinion,² said Representative

Brian P. Bilbray, Republican of California, who spoke out against the $18

billion energy package recently passed by Congress that provides tax credits

for biofuels. ³What is being sold as green fuel just doesn¹t pencil out.²

 

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