Other Citizen Groups
This web page was last modified June 27, 2012 at 3:57 AM.
This web page was last modified June 27, 2012 at 3:57 AM.
The Bucket Brigade assists citizens to monitor air quality in their own communities by providing low-cost sampling devices and testing capabilities.
Discover and Publish the Facts Ethanol presents citizens and decision makers with complex and overlapping environmental, agricultural, social, and economic questions. It is not clear that the benefits come close to outweighing the costs. State and federal ethanol subsidies and institutional policies and biases must be examined. The permitting process must be updated to reflect the new air quality studies from Minnesota and the EPA as well as the expanding body of knowledge on groundwater draw down and its effects on water quality. Before municipalities and communities can be expected to make decisions about allowing ethanol plant operations to proceed, the true costs and benefits of ethanol must be investigated thoroughly and made public. Before accepting promises from proponents and providing millions of dollars in subsidies, state and federal government should invest in unbiased research to determine the facts about ethanol production and use.
Location a factor
Much of the distress stemmed from the plant's location so close to town. Ethanol factories need access to water, highways and, preferably, rail lines, not to mention a ready workforce—all easier to find in populated areas.
In addition, towns can award meaningful tax breaks, as Lena did, taking matters into its own hands amid discontent about the level of state investment in the area. Indeed, nearly every community in Illinois is on the lookout for development opportunities, and ethanol is the hottest in a long time.
Over the past few months, the IEPA has received applications from wanna-be ethanol producers in Joliet, Champaign, Kankakee, Danville and Carbondale, among other sizable towns. A proposed plant just off Route 20 in Rockford has drawn fire from a citizens group worried about odor and groundwater pollution.
“You shouldn't put these plants near people,” said Rich, the lawyer for the Lena activists. “Lena is the classic example of the plant sited in the wrong place too close to residents.”
Even so, the plant is mulling expansion. In September its investors got their first cash return, a robust 23.5 percent, said Butson. This year he expects a 30 percent to 35 percent payout. Adkins also is offering a solid premium for the local corn it buys, and its share values are rising too.
Moreover, a change in environmental regulations under consideration would reduce testing and reporting requirements, so the timing is ripe.
“We’d like to double the size of it,” said Butson, “because our nation needs fuel.”
Still, impediments remain. Settlement discussions with Madigan’s office had reached an advanced stage, said Dunn. But in May the IEPA cited the plant for additional alleged violations. Although Butson said the plant has made all necessary repairs, Dunn wants more answers.
“We won’t just blindly charge ahead with a site we thought was returning to compliance,” Dunn said. “These things need to be sorted out.”
Meantime, the neighbors will be sniffing the air for any whiff of wrongdoing. “Expansion? Hah!” said Randecker. “We will be watching them like a hawk.”
The Traverse Group of the Sierra Club based in northern Michigan, are currently engaged in the fight against a proposed ethanol plant near Kingsley. Kingsley is a small rural farming community, not unlike Cambria.
Citizens for a Quality Environment
(From their web site):
Citizens for a Quality Environment was incorporated in September 2004 as a grassroots research and educational organization to address Franklin County area environmental, quality of life, and development issues.
CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. – The clock appeared to have run out Wednesday for Penn-Mar Ethanol's plan to purchase 55 acres in the Cumberland Valley Business Park for an ethanol plant. At the close of business, the Letterkenny Industrial Development Authority, which runs the business park, had not received the balance of the more than $2.2 million for the parcel, LIDA Executive Director John Van Horn said Wednesday evening.