Seed Companies, AltEn Settle Lawsuits
Seed Companies, Defunct Ethanol Plant Reach Settlement in Ongoing Lawsuits
LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) -- Seed companies that provided treated corn seed to a now-defunct Mead, Nebraska, ethanol plant that closed after a series of environmental problems have reached an agreement to settle several lawsuits with the company that ran the plant.
Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc.; Corteva Agriscience, LLC; AgReliant Genetics, LLC; Beck's Superior Hybrids, Inc.; Winfield Solutions, LLC; Syngenta Seeds, LLC; and Bayer US LLC, filed lawsuits in 2022 in an attempt to hold AltEn LLC and a number of affiliate companies liable for cleanup and other costs at the plant site.
Those cases soon will be drawing to a close, according to a status report filed with the court on Dec. 4, 2024.
"The settlement discussions have resulted in an agreement in principle to resolve these three consolidated matters with an agreed-upon framework that outlines general terms and conditions," all sides in the cases said in the report.
"The FRG and the defendants are actively working on finalizing a settlement agreement that the parties anticipate executing before the end of the calendar year. As parties jointly agree to a settlement in principle, they request that the deadlines under the Progression Order be held in abeyance until the filing of a notice of settlement or a further update."
The plant in eastern Nebraska has been shut down since February 2021 after multiple environmental violations were reported by the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy.
AltEn once accepted unsold treated corn seed from major companies, but began stockpiling the contaminated wet cake onsite after it was considered unfit for livestock feed or as soil conditioner. The wet cake and ponds filled with pesticide-contaminated water on the site combined to create an environmental disaster for the neighboring residents.
AgReliant, Bayer, Becks, Corteva, Syngenta and Winfield formed a response group to voluntarily clean up the plant site, while in the meantime several lawsuits are pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska.
According to the status report, more than 55,200 tons of solidified wet cake at the former plant site has been transported and disposed of at a landfill in Bennington, Nebraska.
Over 107 million gallons of lagoon water has been treated onsite and an estimated 61 million gallons of treated water was land applied to local farms, according to the report. An additional 38 million gallons is expected to be land applied before winter arrives.
Read more on DTN:
"AltEn Cleanup Ongoing, Lawsuit Slows," https://www.dtnpf.com/…
"Wet Cake Is Next Phase in AltEn Cleanup," https://www.dtnpf.com/…
"AltEn Fights Bayer on Plant Cleanup," https://www.dtnpf.com/…
Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com
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