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The facts always change
as a story is retold
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By Jim
Youngquist
[APRIL 25, 2005]
At the first
meeting of the Concerned Citizens of Logan County, a group opposed
to the proposed location of the ethanol plant in Logan County, a
piece of information was delivered by founding member Sharon Pierce.
That piece of information has taken on a life of its own and seems
to be evolving.
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While researching prior to the first
meeting of the CCLC, Sharon and her husband, Ron, came across
information on the Web about an ethanol plant accident in
Pennsylvania in which there was an anhydrous ammonia leak. Officials
there responded by calling for an evacuation of citizens within a
2.5-mile area, a common call in case of an anhydrous leak. Anhydrous
ammonia is used in ethanol plants in the scrubber operation.
The audience at that meeting added
this information about the evacuation to their understanding of the
dangers of ethanol plants in populated areas.
Several weeks later LDN received a
letter to the editor which seemed to evolve the concept from an
anhydrous ammonia evacuation to the general sense of a "mandatory
evacuation zone" for any emergency related to an ethanol plant.
Finally, in the letter we have
published today from a reader, the concept seems to have now
transitioned to a 2.5 mile "area of the explosive arc" of an ethanol
plant.
At LDN we believe that all those who
are contributing to the collection of information about the dangers
of ethanol plants are well-meaning, educated and genuinely concerned
for the community.
My research into this subject has
turned up few actual ethanol-related incidents, mostly related to
the transport of ethanol products via rail. In light of the rest of
the energy industry, ethanol production and transport has been far
below the incident rate of the rest of the energy industry. [Check
out such websites as
http://www.saunalahti.fi/ility/ and
http://www.steeltank.com/library/pubs/
news-082404.pdf.] [To download Adobe Reader for the PDF
file, click here.]
Any time an industry is proposed for
a populated area, the community should do all it can to determine
what the possible risks are and what the impact of that industry
will be on the neighborhood.
[to top of second column in this article]
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 My research regarding the dangers of
ethanol plants has found that there are no "mandatory evacuation
zones." Evacuation does not seem to be mandated by law or
regulation, but is the result of the threat assessment by the "first
responders" at an actual incident. In the case of an anhydrous leak
anywhere in the Logan County area, the emergency plan and the first
responders would probably call for people to stay in their homes as
opposed to fleeing the area, since anhydrous ammonia dissipates
quickly.
If there is an "explosion arc" zone,
neither Illini Bio-Energy developers, ethanol and petroleum industry
insiders, or emergency services officials seem to know of it.
Illini Bio-Energy is mandated to
file a state-required report of all risks associated with their
facility prior to building the plant and housing the chemicals. In
addition they are required to work with the Logan County Local
Emergency Planning Committee to develop a comprehensive emergency
management strategy for their facility and the community. Terry
Storer of the Logan County LEPC says that the SERC State Emergency
Response Commission will regulate the emergency plan for the ethanol
plant.
The study to locate the ethanol
plant at the proposed site in Logan County is still in the very
early stages. Sarah Wilcox of Illini Bio-Energy said that it is too
early to begin working on the details with LEPC, EPA or SERC. At
this point their efforts are being expended to determine if locating
at the proposed site is practical or possible.
Any further information about
associated risks should be carefully considered by the community. If
you have such information, please e-mail it to the CCLC
[info@lincolnethanol.com],
Sarah Wilcox of Illini Bio-Energy
[swilcox@illinibioenergy.com] and LDN
[ldneditor@lincolndailynews.com].
[Jim
Youngquist]
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