Picture Journal
 

Fill in the top of the Funnel and the water has to find another way to go!

The following letter was sent to IDEM and the Local, State, and Federal Authorities:

Has anyone from you office approved the draining of the the wetlands on 1300 North in Alexandria Indiana?

It has been brought to my attention and now to yours, that due to the soil compaction caused by the ethanol
plant, the natural drainage of the wetlands can no longer take place. The wetlands has never remained
above its normal level for more than a day, but now the wetlands continue to get deeper and wider. It is
now to the point that the road can no longer support extremely heavy traffic. A drainage culvert appeared
yesterday after an entire day of having the road closed. The damage to the road is severe and could easily
cause vehicle damage. But the wetlands have been there as long as I can remember (I am over 40 years old),
and have never had a problem draining before.

I say soil compaction because this ground's natural state was very soppy wet, as most of the water in the
area found its way to this property and either left by way of the ditches or slowly soaked into the ground
(assumablly down into the aquifer like a slow funnel). Now 2/3rds of the top of the funnel is covered with
tons and tons of rock and packed down tight. = Soil Compaction, am I right?

Since man's decision was the cause for the wetlands not to be able to drain (naturally to the north where
the plant is being set) and man's solution is to drain them away in an unnatural direction (onto the
neighboring property across the road), then why do we allow the same man to eliminate the problem by
possibly murdering a natural habitat for wildlife, diverting water onto neighboring properties and allowing
lack of care or talent to lead to these problems in the first place.

Can anything be done to help man make better decisions??? Are we not smart enough to know the natural
drainage flow and the best way to allow for drainage? Or was the goal to do whatever we wanted and get rid
of the wetlands by playing a chess game against other man until the only option was to drain them. To what
degree do we protect the wetlands. March 21, 2007 I took pictures of the culvert pipe lying next to the
wetlands, the 20 geese using the wetlands, the road condition (which is not the geese's fault) and a couple
of pictures of where the water would naturally drain packed tight enough to carry extremely large
machinery.

I am probably too late to save the wetlands, but someone had to say something.

We were told that when a property becomes zoned industrial, the wetlands will no longer be respected. Is
this true?

Is anyone in charge of caring for the wetlands, drainage, soil compaction, neighbors causing neighboring
property damage, or limiting the weight on roads that will be damaged by extremely heavy traffic???

It still seems that it does not matter what is right or wrong, we will do whatever it takes to place an
ethanol plant in a very poor location.

Please let me know if you are not the one who will take action and/or forward this to someone who has
authority to take action.

Thank you for caring,
the Good Rural Neighbors of Ultimate Ethanol

Ultimate Ethanol is a plant being built by broin and associates in Alexandria Indiana at the intersection
of 1300 north and 100 east

 

Wetlands converted to Ethanol Refinery

Two thirds wetland, the corn in this field was retrieved by track wheeled tractors and 3 foot deep combine tracks can be found throughout the field.  The owner of this land wants money for something that should be a natural wetland reserve.  The ducks leaving the wetlands (first picture and great PC wallpaper) are just a few of the visitors who frequent this wildlife refuge on 1300 (I am sure the wildlife that frequent this area will feel just as safe and protected when their space is taken over by railroads, truck traffic, (the ducks flew off the site as my truck crept by, will they even come back if trucks are zooming past?), and the constant racket of the hammer mills).

These pictures were taken after the 7th flood of 2006 on December 1, 2006 after two days worth of misting (the type of rain that when you come in, you only have a few rain drops on you) rain flooded our banks throughout town.  You should notice that the wetland is no deeper than it normally is and the creek is no deeper either.  The ground however has no way for water to get away due to the proximity to the surface of the water table.

You may want to keep this one and use it as a wallpaper for your computer