Researchers invited residents of Mead to a town hall-style presentation on Monday at the fire hall to talk about the impact that AltEn has had on the environment and human health.
LARRY ROBINSON, Journal Star
Curt Pearson speaks to researchers about the impacts that AltEn has had on the community at the Mead Fire Hall on Monday.
LARRY ROBINSON, Journal Star
Wahoo Mayor Jerry Johnson speaks to researchers about the impacts that AltEn has had on the community at the Mead Fire Hall on Monday.
LARRY ROBINSON, Journal Star
Dr. Judy Wu-Smart speaks to Mead residents about the impact of AltEn on the local bee population at the Mead Fire Hall on Monday.
MEAD — Samples collected from soil, water and air near Mead show declining concentrations of pesticides that have been linked to AltEn, the ethanol plant that used treated seeds to produce biofuel near the Saunders County community of nearly 600 people.
But a research team led by the University of Nebraska said expanding the scope of its study in 2022 found the presence of neonicotinoid pesticides in 11 homes in the Mead area at concentrations well higher than two control sites elsewhere in the state.
The mixed results were shared by scientists from UNL, UNMC and Creighton to more than 50 people at the Mead Fire Hall on Monday evening, the second community forum held to share the findings of a wide-ranging and long-term study into AltEn’s impacts on the environment and human health.
The expanded testing was given a boost last year through a $1 million appropriation of American Rescue Plan Act funds awarded by the Legislature.
Over the course of more than five years, AltEn was — by its own accounting — the final destination for nearly all of the unused treated seed in North America, advertising itself as a “green recycling program†for the pesticide-coated products.
But the solid and liquid byproducts of the ethanol plant’s unique biofuel manufacturing method contained levels of neonicotinoid pesticides that have alarmed state regulators and researchers.
Judy Wu-Smart, a UNL entomologist who helped uncover the spread of pesticides through the landscape surrounding the ethanol plant by monitoring losses of bee colonies, told community members the UNL Bee Lab has recorded better survival rates in its hives in the two years since AltEn shut down.
During the more than five years AltEn was in operation, each of the hives deployed on UNL’s Eastern Nebraska Research and Education Center farm experienced 100% losses before the end of the season, Wu-Smart said.
Neonicotinoids, which have a similar chemical structure to nicotine, dissolve easily in water and are absorbed by a plant’s root system, giving the plant protection against various pests by impairing the nervous systems of those species.
Beginning in 2021, however, after the ethanol plant was forced to cease operations by the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy, roughly 30% of the hives survived. The survival rate improved again to 70% last year – something Wu-Smart attributed to a lack of dust from the plant.
“We are kind of seeing a recovery,†Wu-Smart said, while cautioning that further study was being conducted to learn where bees were coming into contact with pesticides in plants and flowers.
Surface water samples taken in creeks and reservoirs that received wastewater from AltEn have also seen a drop-off in the amount of pesticides present, said Eleanor Rogan, a professor in UNMC’s College of Public Health.
Researchers have focused their efforts in two places, Johnson Creek and an unnamed tributary of Clear Creek, both of which routinely were filled with rainwater running away from the AltEn site, or were designated for wastewater discharge.
Rogan said concentrations of those agri-chemicals have dropped significantly —in some cases, by a magnitude of 1 to 2 times — between April 2021 and September 2022, which indicates the “pesticides are clearing from the stream.â€
Although the level of active pesticides in the stream may be falling, researchers have begun to get a picture of the long-term effects those chemicals have on those ecosystems, the team told the town hall meeting.
Liz VanWormer, director of UNL’s One Health initiative, said an army of undergraduate researchers spent 2022 collecting bullfrog tadpoles from sites both upstream and downstream of AltEn.
Testing done on 43 of those samples shows the presence of pesticides, particularly those collected 6 miles downstream from the plant, which will be part of an expanded focus beginning this spring, VanWormer said.
A measure of biodiversity in another stream where AltEn was permitted to discharge wastewater also illustrates the effects the chemicals can play on those waterways, said John Schalles, a professor of environmental toxicology at Creighton.
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Samples collected from a control stream showed the presence of snails, leeches, and worms, Schalles said, while water collected from a tributary of Silver Creek showed a lack of those species.
Schalles said the only species located in a sample collected downstream from AltEn was a fly larvae that scientists say is an indicator of reduced water quality – something he said warrants further study in the affected areas downstream of the plant beginning this year.
While the results of the environmental sampling show improvement in some areas and the need for further study in others, UNMC said it is planning further study into the human health effects created by AltEn.
An expanded project to collect air and dust samples from 11 homes in and around the Mead area showed the presence of neonicotinoids — confirming findings shared at last summer’s town hall.
Rogan said researchers also collected samples from three homes in Kennard, a small community of nearly 400 that is geographically similar to Mead, as well as three homes in Omaha, both of which showed negligible amounts of pesticides compared to those in Mead.
The amounts found by the research team were small in those control samples, Rogan said – amounts equal to 60 parts-per billion in some cases, compared to the 427,000 parts-per billion detected in some waste produced at AltEn.
But with little research being done into the effects of breathing in pesticide-laden dust, Dr. Ali Khan, dean of UNMC’s College of Public Health, said the team felt it was best to share the findings with the public.
Previous research into those chemicals centered on concentrations approved for field application – not constant exposure through the air.
“Nobody has ever thought of these as you breathing it in 24/7 for several years on end,†Khan said. “That’s just not the way anybody has ever thought about this.â€
Rogan said UNMC was also processing blood and urine samples collected from area residents who volunteered to take part in the study to see how they compare to the general public at large.
A 2019 study estimated roughly half of all Americans between the ages of 3 and 80 have been exposed to concentrations of neonicotinoids high enough to be detected in their urine, but at low enough levels to not raise concern.
According to the study, which examined data collected from the 2015-16 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, the use of the synthetic pesticides on produce is believed to have been the exposure route for most Americans.
Rogan said the results of the human samples could be released in the coming weeks or months.
Residents of Mead who attended Monday’s meeting said they appreciated the communication from the NU researchers, even if it raised more questions about what steps they should take.
Molly Jackson, who moved to a home just south of Mead with her husband, Andy, in 2020, said the information shared is valuable in helping inform next steps members of the community can take.
Jackson, a nurse practitioner, said the ongoing environmental crisis in Mead is not just a local problem, but a statewide issue that needs the attention of the broader public.
"This is not just my problem, or Andy's problem, or anybody in this room's problem," she said. "There are so many people this could be impacting, and that really bothers me."
Researchers invited residents of Mead to a town hall-style presentation on Monday at the fire hall to talk about the impact that AltEn has had on the environment and human health.