Burning Bio News

The worries about antibiotic resistance and the rise of superbugs have reached into the ethanol industry. Ethanol producers have long used antibiotics to control bacteria that can contaminate the fermentation process. But now, the Food and Drug Administration is developing a policy to regulate the use of the drugs and is conducting tests in Iowa and nationwide to determine the extent to which the antibiotics are getting into livestock feed produced by the plants.

Environmental groups and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reached a settlement requiring the agency to propose a rule on greater information gathering on confined livestock farms. The rule, to be proposed within 12 months, would require the 20,000 or so domestic factory farms to report information like how they dispose of manure and other waste. – mj: The process of revising the federal manure rules began over ten years ago. It has cost millions of dollars, and the ’solution’ will not ‘fix’ the problem. I’d say the public process has failed the public. Unfortunately, the regulation of manure is only a minor example of this crisis.

On Thursday, 40 years after that first Earth Day in 1970, smog levels nationwide have dropped by about a quarter, and lead levels in the air are down more than 90 percent. Formerly fetid lakes and burning rivers are now open to swimmers. The challenges to the planet today are largely invisible — and therefore tougher to tackle.

Genetically engineered biotechnology is one of those issues that people love to hate. This article on the ecofriend site lists 12 genetic technologies that are earth friendly including pigs and cow that produce less toxic manure, bacterium that generate fuels and plastics, as well as viruses that produce batteries. It is a nice reminder that the world as we know it is completely changing.

The Chesapeake Bay Commission’s three-year research effort into biofuels and the Bay found that the Chesapeake Bay region could lead the nation in developing a biofuels industry. The commission recommended a regional production goal of 500 million gallons of biofuels a year. The fuels would be produced from a mix of agricultural and forest-based feedstock. A regional biofuels industry would help wean Americans from dependence on foreign oil and keep farmers in business while also improving water quality. But to succeed, the states and the federal government must create markets and encourage the needed investments.

More farming, not less, will be the key to improving the Chesapeake Bay’s water quality, according to a report released by the Chesapeake Bay Commission and the state of Pennsylvania Wednesday. The commission is urging member states to grow feedstocks, or raw material used to make biofuel, that it believes will produce 500 million gallons of biofuel a year by 2022, and create more than 18,500 jobs in the region. The commission’s Biofuel Advisory Panel believes biomass production, if managed correctly, could significantly reduce nutrient and sediment loads into the bay. “What we’re talking about is stacking benefits,” said Tom Richard, director of the Penn State Institutes of Energy and the Environment and a member of the advisory panel.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson announced that EPA is initiating new federal rulemaking on stormwater and concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO) to reduce water pollution in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. – mj: The Chesapeake Bay has an high concentration of people, which makes livestock and manure easy targets. The problems are real, but they will continue as long as the watershed contains concentrated human feeding operations. The challenges in the Chesapeake area are real and livestock does plays a role, but there must be a more effective policy than, “We are coming after you.”

The Waterkeeper Alliance has threatened to sue the Hudson Farm and Perdue Farms, which buys chickens from a Berlin, MD, chicken farm. State officials said last month that a mound photographed by the group on the Berlin farm was treated human sewage sludge, not poultry manure. Maryland Department of the Environment spokeswoman Dawn Stoltzfus says the site was inspected and 80 percent of the sludge has been taken to a landfill with the remainder moved to higher ground and covered.

A CleanTechnica article has been reprinted by Scientific American, both reputable publications, entitled, “Biogas from Cows Could Help Save New York City Water Supply.” Digesters are fascinating technologies, but they do not - as a stand alone technology - enhance water quality. The principle products of digesters are methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2). The principle water quality issues with manure are surplus nitrogen and phosphorus. Adding a digester to a livestock facility can be a wonderful thing, but it does not improve water quality.

A new Government Accountability Office report states that “Ethanol is highly corrosive and there is potential for releases into the environment that could contaminate groundwater and surface water.”

USDA, ERS has issued a report on the impact of Ethanol on US land use and water quality. From the summaries, it looks like they found that increasing production of ethanol will create water quality problems. –mj: Unfortunately, that is based on taking the trends in production prior to the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, and extending the trend lines out into the future. That may happen, but probably not.

Although biomass is typically associated with power, fuel and chemical applications, it also has a natural ability to sop up oil spills on highways, antifreeze on driveways and spilled paint. Nature’s Broom, a company based in Hollandale, MS, uses waste agricultural and forestry materials to produce a 97 percent biobased liquid spill absorbent that meets the USDA’s BioPreferred program product qualifications.

A federal jury on Monday found Exxon Mobil liable for contaminating groundwater in New York City and awarded the city $104.7 million in compensatory damages. Dozens of similar cases are pending against oil companies nationwide over the contamination of groundwater by the additive MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl ether), which is highly soluble in water and has leaked from underground storage tanks across the country. – mj: The replacement of MTBE with ethanol as an oxygenate in gasoline was a very significant non-btu, non-GHG driver. It was leaking into drinking water supplies all over the country. Many forget that the use of ethanol in gasoline is STILL providing the environmental benefits of not having MTBE in our drinking water.

Corn Plus, a 49-million-gallon ethanol plant in Winnebago, MN, faces fines of up to $150,000 and other penalties for dumping pollutants into nearby Rice Lake, a misdemeanor violation of the federal Clean Water Act. The company routinely dumped wastewater on its property, but much of that water then fed into nearby Rice Lake, contaminating it with ethanol byproducts, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

A project in Pennsylvania seeks to determine if abandoned and active mine lands can be reclaimed and used to grow biofuel crops such as switchgrass and other warm-season grass species. Penn State professors, Rick Stehouwer and Marvin Hall have been researching switchgrass, big bluestem and other crops and are looking at tapping into Pennsylvania’s 180,000 acres of abandoned mine lands.

Just for balance, this article on algae technology development challenges evens out the positives of the other algae technology development side. For the most part, from a business development standpoint the technical variables are too great, the technology property rights often uncertain, and permitting can be a nightmare. These factors are in addition to the depressed economic factors…

Biochar was discussed at the Texas Animal Manure Management Issues Conference Sept. 29-30 in Round Rock, north of Austin. – mj: The jury is still out biochar, but this article is a pretty good overview of general biomass gasification as it relates to manure. Mike McGolden, Coaltec, mentions using biochar to filter water. Some landmark research by USDA-ARS in 2005 showed that charcoal made from chicken litter was a superior filter element to charcoal made from wood.

Jamestown, CA, wastewater is being treated in-part by a 12 acre grove of hybrid poplars. The City is satisfied with the water quality remediating abilities of they hybrid poplars (using 10-20 gallons of water per tree per day). Now they are looking for a market for the poplar that can be harvested.

United Ethanol’s 2005 conditional use permit was declared null and void by a court of law two years ago because there was concern that the siting procedures were not transparent enough. No further action was taken. Now there are new concerns about emissions and the facility appears to be operating legally without a permit.

Teresa Heinz and the Heinz Family Foundation announced the recipients of the 15th annual Heinz Awards, which this year, focuses singularly on the environment. Created to honor U.S. Sen. John Heinz, the 2009 Heinz Awards commemorate his long-standing commitment to the environment by bestowing $100,000 awards to 10 individuals whose achievements have helped bring about a cleaner, greener and more sustainable planet.