Ethanol is Not Clean Energy

 Neither Rogersville nor Fordland, much less the adjacent landowners, are prepared to cope with an ethanol plant located nearby. Important information is ignored by promoters of ethanol as a quick-fix to the foreign oil problem. We should listen to others across the U.S. as they deal with ethanol plants located in their communities. For example, "evacuation plans for the Penn-Mar Ethanol plant proposed for Lancaster County, PA., calls for immediate evacuation within 2.5 miles in all directions from the plant, and within 5 miles, residents must be sheltered indoors". "…The Evacuation Plan would also cover people near the rail cars and trucks used to carry the dangerous chemicals and products to and from the ethanol plant" (Lancaster Newspaper). Also, more than one study concludes that due to air pollution and the potential for a disaster, "Schools should be located at least 5 miles away from any ethanol plant". Gulfstream Bioflex Energies (GBE) stated the proposed Rogersville/Fordland plant would have a rated capacity of 88 million gallons per year. GBE failed to provide written plans for their proposed plant as requested during the on-going trial. As a result, we are forced to rely on similar ethanol plants as to what will be stored on-site. A plant producing 60 million gallons of fuel ethanol per year will have the following stored on-site (the larger GBE plant might have even larger capacities of these chemicals): five 13,333 cubic foot carbon dioxide (co2) storage tanks; 8,000 lbs anhydrous ammonia would be at the distillery;18,000 gallons of aqueous ammonia would be in an above ground storage tank;165,000 gallons 95% ethanol - above ground storage tank;165,000 gallons 100% ethanol - above ground storage tank;1.5 million gallons fuel ethanol - 2 above ground storage tanks (ast); 7,000 gallons sulfuric acid - above ground storage tank; 5,700 gallons sulfamic acid - above ground storage tank; 8,000 gallons sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) - above ground storage tank; 8,400 gallons glucose amylase - aboveground storage tank; 8,400 gallons alpha amylase - aboveground storage tank; 4 fermentation tanks: 745,000 gallons each (2,980,000 gal.); and a 1,000,000 gallons - beer well and 75,000 gallons of gasoline for denaturing in aboveground storage tank. [NOTE: one gallon of gasoline has the explosive power of six or more sticks of dynamite. In this case, 450,000 sticks of dynamite]. An article in The Fayetteville Observer (NC) shows concern about a proposed ethanol plant in their city industrial park…"In addition to the question of odors, the plant will store (according to the company named E85) 2.8 million gallons of ethanol, 105,000 gallons of gasoline, 150,000 pounds of sulfuric acid, 50,000 lbs. of caustic sodium hydroxide, 11,000 pounds of phosphoric acid, 190,000 pounds of urea and 98,000 pounds of ammonia. It could generate nearly 1,000 tractor-trailer visits a week or hundreds of rail-car arrivals and departures. It will use more than a thousand gallons of municipal water a minute and put millions of gallons of effluent-laden water through local sewer plants. Those figures are filled with questions about environmental and infrastructural impacts, and what they will cost the community". "Ethanol production facilities are a significant source of air pollutants and a number of compounds that EPA has designated Hazardous Air Pollutants. In addition to contributing to ground-level ozone (smog), volatile organic compounds (VOC's) can cause serious health problems such as cancer and other effects; CO2 is harmful because it reduces oxygen delivery to the body's organs and tissues". VOCs include ethanol, methanol, acetic acid, lactic acid, formaldehyde, and acetaldehyde both of which are known cancer causing chemicals. Increased exposure to ethanol also raises the risk of inhalation, which has significant health consequences: developmental toxicity, central nervous system dysfunction, birth defects, and cancer. Combustion in the boilers primarily produces carbon monoxide, and various oxides. Carbon monoxide is extremely toxic, and if inhaled, could lead to brain death. Wastewater treatment produces hydrogen sulfides, and some of the VOCs listed above. Cooling towers emit miniscule particulate matter (less than 10 microns in diameter) and if inhaled in large quantities, could potentially affect respiratory function. The study found that "Many citizens experienced reactions rather quickly from breathing air that was saturated with these emissions. Symptoms were burning eyes, lungs, and throat; you'd get headaches, cramps in your sides and feel nauseous." In addition, the smaller "…Penn-Mar Ethanol's Description of Proposed Use submitted to Greene Township (PA) states it would use: 220,000 cubic feet Natural Gas per hour (cfh); 8.0 megawatts (MW) of electricity; 135,000 gallons of sewage per day (gpd)..." http://c4aqe.org/Documents/evacuation_lancaster_newspaper_excerpt.pdf Source: "Study For The Proposed Penn-Mar Ethanol Facility Conoy Township, Lancaster County, Pa." and The Fayetteville Observer (NC). Do we really want an ethanol plant located near our schools or in our communities? I don't think so!

David E. Pitts, Certified Biologist, Rogersville, Mo.