Nussle critical of DNR’s comments on ethanol plant pollution

Republican gubernatorial candidate Jim Nussle is criticizing state officials who say Iowa’s ethanol plants are fouling Iowa’s air and water. According to the Des Moines Register, the Department of Natural Resources’ environmental protection chief says the state’s ethanol industry has not been a “pretty sight.” “The DNR using I don’t know what kind of science is telling us that these ethanol plants are polluting Iowa, well…it’s nonsense,” Nussle says. According to documents obtained by the newspaper, Iowa ethanol plants have sent syrup, batches of bad ethanol and sewage into Iowa streams. Nussle disputes that. “Based on science, the water that they’re putting into the streams are cleaner than the water they’re taking out of the ground,” Nussle says. “We’ve got a real challenge here with the bureaucracy, yet again, where it’s holding back Iowa’s economic development and energy development.” A couple of Iowa ethanol plants have paid 10-thousand dollar fines for excess emissions or failing to get the proper permits. Iowa produces a third of the U.S. ethanol supply. Iowa has 18 ethanol plants in operation. The latest, in Denison, went on-line Monday.