A Saunders County District Court judge agreed last week to give the state of Nebraska more time to reach a settlement with a defunct ethanol plant that is the subject of a major environmental cleanup.
On Thursday, Judge Christina Marroquin issued a stay of proceedings in Nebraska's lawsuit against AltEn, which will allow the remediation effort of the biofuel refinery near Mead to continue uninterrupted in the coming months.
The recent filings and order are the first public-facing activity to occur in the state case in more than three years. The Nebraska Attorney General's Office sued AltEn on March 1, 2021, for 18 violations of the state's environmental regulations.
The 97-page complaint faulted AltEn, which used pesticide-coated seeds to produce ethanol, for improperly disposing of the tens of thousands of tons of solid waste and millions of gallons of liquids contaminated with agricultural chemicals it created.
In February, Marroquin had ordered the parties to provide the court with reasons on why the lawsuit should continue after more than six months had gone by without any update.
The judge said that if the state could not show reasons why the case should continue, she would dismiss the lawsuit "for lack of prosecution."
But on Wednesday, attorneys for both the state and AltEn asked Marroquin to stay the proceedings while "confidential settlement discussions" regarding the lawsuit and other legal matters facing the former ethanol plant continued.
The motion indicated the state, AltEn and the AltEn Facility Response Group — a coalition of six seed companies that sent unused seeds coated in pesticides to be disposed at AltEn who are now voluntarily leading the cleanup — had met in March to begin hashing out a settlement.
A subsequent meeting between the three sides is scheduled to take place in May, according to court records.
"The parties agree a stay would be in the interests of justice and will not harm the parties given the mutual desire to engage in confidential settlement discussions with the goal of a global resolution," the request for a stay indicated.
It also said a stay of proceedings would not harm the state's "significant and important interests in full remediation," but would give all parties more time to focus on those efforts rather than costly litigation.
Marroquin agreed to delay the case until Dec. 1, and set the status hearing for Dec. 2 in Saunders County District Court, according to court documents. She also ordered the state of Nebraska to file a written status report before June 1, and a second report by Nov. 18.
The state's case, which carried with it possible fines of $10,000 per day for each cause of action, is just one of several civil lawsuits that have been filed against AltEn since it shut down in February 2021.
In February 2023, a federal judge froze the assets of AltEn and several related companies at the request of the Facility Response Group in order to prevent AltEn's owners from transferring, selling or concealing its cash or property that could be used to reimburse the costs of the cleanup, which have exceeded $28 million to date.
A month later, in March 2023, AltEn agreed to pay the owner of a warehouse near the Lincoln Airport nearly $190,000 in missed rent and utility payments.
Marroquin also granted a stay on another case in November 2023 at the request of the state in a foreclosure filing against a portion of AltEn's facility after the ethanol plant failed to pay its property taxes.
The stay, which will be subject to its own Dec. 2 hearing in Saunders County District Court, was granted in order to "maintain AltEn as the property owner and permit holder to ensure that remediation efforts are not disrupted."
On Monday, attorneys representing the Facility Response Group as well as AltEn also asked a federal judge to extend the case to Dec. 2.
An extension "not only facilitates the work in remediating the Site, an important factor in the resolution" of both the federal and state cases, the request stated, but also helps all sides engage in a potential settlement.
U.S. Judge Michael D. Nelson, who is overseeing the federal cases, did not issue a ruling on the request on Monday.