Filed under: Biodiesel, Etc., Green Daily
Giving biodiesel a bad name: killling fish with glycerin in Missouri
Biodiesel proponents do a lot of work to make people see the biofuel as an environmentally friendly alternative. But then James Raulerson pretty much gave them the finger. The southeast Missouri man was sentenced this week to two years probation and given a $10,000 fine for violating the Clean Water Act. How did he violate the Act? By dumping biodiesel waste from Natural Biodiesel Plant LLC into a local ditch back in 2007. The waste, mostly glycerin but also other biodiesel byproducts, was pumped out of a tanker truck and killed at least 30,000 (maybe over 100,000) fish and other aquatic life, according to the Southeast Missourian. The Missouri DNR claims that it "spent a tremendous amount of time working with other state and federal agencies to investigate this violation and ensure it was properly cleaned up." Nice one, James.
[Source: Southeast Missourian, Missouri DNR]
Photo by tuppus. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
state 8:50PM (11/26/2008)
Glycerol is a sugar alcohol, and is sweet-tasting and of low toxicity.
BFD!
Much ado about nothing? Assuming accurately reported, a BIG if.
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Chris M 11:18PM (11/26/2008)
At very low concentrations, it would be harmless, but by a tanker truck load it was way too much! Obviously, it killed several thousand fish, that's hardly "harmless".
cmac 12:02AM (11/27/2008)
Actually it is not the toxicity that killed the fish, it was the viscosity of the glycerin when it coated the fish's gill that killed them.
Not BFD, do a little research.
Dude 8:48AM (11/28/2008)
State:
The unrefined glycerol waste dumped in this stream had an extremely high chemical oxygen demand which depleted the dissolved oxygen levels in the stream to such low levels that the fish and other organisms "suffocated"
The waste also had so much residual methanol in it that its flashpoint was low enough to meet the definition of a hazardous waste, although this probably did less harm to the fish than the lack of oxygen.
I was there and saw the dead fish and DO readings. It certainly was a BFD.
why not the LS2LS7? 9:17PM (11/26/2008)
Anybody who pumps stuff out of a tanker truck into a ditch is likely breaking the law and knows it full well. This guy is scum.
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James Sonne 8:25AM (11/27/2008)
No matter what harmless substance you pump in large amounts into a small environment it will likely kill things off. Systems contain highly focused environmental balances such as salinity, oxygenicity, temperature, etc. and if those variables become unbalanced living organisms will suffer. Sure, nitrogen gas is innocuous, but if our atmosphere were 98% nitrogen we would all suffocate, just as these fish did when their water became highly glycerated.
Toxicity or not, balance is the issue. Completely idiotic way to attack the biodiesel trend, there are many more legitimate and scientifically viable ways to attack biodiesel.
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Mark 9:34AM (11/27/2008)
Maybe President Bush will pardon him before leaving office.
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Woodenbee 10:22AM (11/27/2008)
This isn't an attack on biodiesel, it's called respecting the rule of law? if anyone pollutes the laws are there to be enforced, if I killed an entire ecosystem I would expect to be punished, wouldn't you?
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Nobody Special 11:02AM (11/27/2008)
The BP refinery on the shore of Lake Michigan in Indiana has been violating the CWA in one form or another for years, as well as the CAA but they just keep on keeping on.
What's the point? Well, if you have enough lobbyists and 'pocket-cash' you can pretty much do what you want. The guy is an idiot at best - just a smaller idiot.
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Joce03 8:14PM (11/27/2008)
Probably one of the reasons why big companies don't care is that the fines aren't steep enough to make them think twice. In my opinion, $10 000 is a joke considering the magnitude of the effect something like this has. When you wipe out such a large number of one animal, your effectively harming countless other species which rely on the original animal one way or on other.
(Sorry for the bio lesson)
bbr 1:28PM (12/08/2008)
Batchelder Biodiesel Refineries (BBR) was formed 2 years ago when the demand for alternative fuels started to boom. BBR has perfected their refining process to include yellow and brown grease taken from the surrounding communities. BBR has developed a state of the art process to convert this waste grease into 100% ASTM certified biofuel as well as bioheat. Both processes meet and exceed ASTM D6751 standards. Because BBR uses waste grease to create their product there is no food vs. fuel controversy, as there is with using non-waste products such as Ethanol from corn. By utilizing a waste stream BBR is diverting a product that would ultimately be disposed of in a land fill. With fewer and fewer landfills excepting grease for disposal and the amount of waste continuing to grow, the question we should be asking ourselves is, what will we do with it all?
BBR will be providing the ability to convert this waste to a usable product, it will convert our communities waste into a clean form of energy, which results in a cleaner environment.
BBR’s knowledge base comes from over 60 years of manufacturing experience while maintaining a quality of work, which compares to none. BBR is also currently in the process of working with Keene State College and the City of Keene in a collaboration known as The Monadnock Biodiesel Collaborative (MBC) to bring green fuels to the Monadnock region.
To learn more about BBR and the MBC please visit their sites:
www.bbr-llc.com
www.monadnockbiodiesel.com
or contact Chris Langille at
clangille@bbr-llc.com
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