United Ethanol settles with the Department of Justice

Oct. 17, David Cramer, United Ethanol president and chief executive officer, signed a stipulation and order for judgment with the Wisconsin Department of Justice in the amount of $700,000. The settlement was in reference to a complaint by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) against United Ethanol alleging violations of Wisconsin air pollution laws.

"We're not interested in spending the excessive amount of money it would cost to litigate the case," commented Cramer. "So, we entered negotiations with the Department of Justice and agreed on the $700,000 settlement."

Although United Ethanol did not claim liability in the signed stipulation and order for judgment, they did agree to provide the WDNR with an environmental compliance audit report, annually, for the next three years.

"United Ethanol continually undergoes testing to make sure our equipment is working properly and we're in compliance with our permits, so completing these environmental compliance audits annually will fit in well with our current testing and auditing activities," noted Cramer.

During the last few years, several changes have been implemented at United Ethanol.

"Operations at United Ethanol are going very well. The new regenerative thermal oxidizer (RTO) is performing as expected, and tying in the CO2 scrubber stack and process vent gas scrubber stack into the RTO (as suggested by a third-party consultant from ICM, Inc. to assist with odor issues) is also working out well."

In addition to producing ethanol for fuel, distiller's grain for animal feed, and capturing carbon dioxide for use in the food processing and beverage industries, United Ethanol incorporated corn oil extraction in January, 2011. Corn oil from United Ethanol is shipped out for use in biodiesel production.

"By adding the carbon dioxide capturing process and corn oil extraction into ethanol operations at United Ethanol, we are providing more streams of income to the plant and making sure no part of the corn kernel goes to waste," added Cramer.

"We look forward to a bright future in Milton.

United Ethanol, incorporated in 2005, is a 42 million-gallon-per-year ethanol production facility located in Milton. In 1974, U.S. farmers yielded 71.9 bushels of corn per acre, compared with 152.8 in 2010. United Ethanol produces approximately 2.8 gallons of ethanol and 18 pounds of highly valuable feed co-products called distiller's grain from one bushel of corn.