The Bourbon Trail of Kentucky: Environmental Impacts and Pollution

The Bourbon Trail of Kentucky: Environmental Impacts and Pollution

By: Brian Fields & Olivia Hester

 “The best bourbon starts with the best water.”[1] The bourbon industry in Kentucky is deeply rooted in the culture of our state and people. Along with being a popular tourist attraction, the industry is a source of pride and job security for many individuals residing in the state. Kentucky is the birthplace of bourbon, crafting 95% of the world’s supply.[2] Not only that, but bourbon is an $8.6 billion signature industry in Kentucky, generating 20,100 jobs with an annual payroll of $1 billion.[3] It is safe to say Kentucky depends on the industry for developing economically, socially, and via capital investment. But who is regulating this industry?

In July of 2019, Jim Beam Brands Co. was responsible for a mass bourbon spill, resulting in irrevocable harm. The spill resulted in 40,000 barrels of bourbon to drain into our state’s waterways, including the Kentucky and Ohio Rivers.[4] Not only did this cause mass pollution to major sources of the state’s water but resulted in the deaths of wildlife for over a 60-mile radius of the spill.[5] Instead of catering to this as a public health issue, Louisville Water Company tended to the issue with protocol default for any other minor spill.[6]

These are not the first spills from bourbon manufacturing that have dramatically harmed Kentucky’s waterways. In 2000, bourbon manufacturer Wild Turkey had a 17,000 gallon Bourbon spill into the Kentucky River near Frankfort, Kentucky resulting in the death of approximately 228,000 fish and other widespread ecological devastation.[7] Approximately twenty eight miles of the river caught fire, creating a sharp decrease in dissolved oxygen that led to a “dead-zone” that was uninhabitable for aquatic species.[8] In the 21st century, a spill has occurred on average every three years and four months, with the frequency seemingly increasing as the years go on.[9]

Considering the detrimental impact and great weight of these spills, there is importance in transparency with who regulates and responds to these events.  Kentucky adheres to federal law governing spills in addition to enforcing state-based mandates, as found in KRS 224.1-400.[10] According to the statute, Kentucky follows 40 C.F.R. in reporting hazardous substances spills.[11] Under 40 C.F.R. § 1600, a Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board is in charge of investigating chemical accidents and hazards, recommending actions to protect workers, the public, and the environment.[12] The CSB makes safety recommendations to Federal, State, and local agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) and private organizations to reduce the likelihood of recurrences of chemical incidents.[13] Further, The CSB issues reports pursuant to its duties to determine the cause or probable cause or causes of chemical incidents and to report the facts, conditions, and circumstances relating to such incidents; and issues and makes available to the public safety recommendations, safety studies, and reports of special investigations.[14] While a federally regulated committee is important in maintaining consistency nation-wide, it is noteworthy that this committee consists of five members, appointed by the president.[15]

While there are statutory mechanisms for the state to financially recover the costs incurred during cleanup, it is questionable whether these costs serve as an effective deterrent that would discourage behavior that risks environmental contamination by bourbon manufacturers. KRS 224.1-400(15) provides the statutory remedies to recover “costs incurred in the removal of oil or hazardous substances discharged in violation of Section 311(b)(3) of the Federal Clean Water Act from any person liable,” permitting the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet to recover the cabinet's actual and necessary costs expended in response to a threatened release, an environmental emergency, or a release of a hazardous substance that is reportable under this section.[16]

The lack of sharp punitive measures means there is no deterrent to produce change. The 2003 Jim Beam Spill that spilled 800,000 gallons of bourbon into a creek in Bardstown resulted in a $27,000 fine.[17] Now, with the latest 40,000-gallon spill into the Kentucky River costing Jim Beam only another $712,000, one must ask whether the meager fines have resulted in any productive steps towards mitigating this cycle of disaster and devastation for Kentucky’s waterways[18]. With the parent company of Beam Inc., Suntory Holdings, expected to have approximately 25 billion dollars in revenue in 2020, the state of Kentucky and the United States as a whole must begin to consider the implications of these meager fees that only minimally offset the vast devastation that occurs each time a river is aflame from a Bourbon Spill.[19] While the answer as to what the right amount of penalty remains unclear, it is clear that with numerous spills in the past two decades, the current legal mechanisms of accountability are not doing the job of deterring this devastation.

[1] Michaela Lambert, When Bourbon Leaves the Barrel: What Happens to Wildlife When Spills Affect Kentucky’s Water Bodies https://landairwater.me/2020/01/29/when-bourbon-leaves-the-barrel-what-happens-to-wildlife-when-spills-affect-kentuckys-water-bodies/ (Last visited November 3, 2020).

[2]Kentucky Distillers Association, Bourbon Facts, https://www.kentucky.com/article238789388.html (Last Visited November 3, 2020).

[3] Id.

[4] Enrique Saenz, Indiana Environmental Reporter, Jim Beam fined for Kentucky bourbon spill, fish kill, https://www.indianaenvironmentalreporter.org/posts/jim-beam-fined-for-kentucky-bourbon-spill-fish-kill (Last visited November 3, 2020).

[5] Id.

[6] Louisville Water, Bourbon spill not considered a public health issue, https://louisvillewater.com/newsroom/bourbon-spill-not-considered-public-health-issue (Last visited November 3, 2020).

[7] Sarah Reilly & Zahria Rogers, From 'bourbonado' to Jim Beam's fire: Kentucky's historic bourbon disasters, Courier Journal (Jul. 5, 2019), https://www.courier-journal.com/story/life/food/spirits/bourbon/2018/06/22/kentucky-bourbon-disasters-through-years/726491002/.

[8] Fish Kill Blamed on Bourbon Spill, Water Quality Products, (Dec. 28, 2000), https://www.wqpmag.com/fish-kill-blamed-bourbon-spill

[9] Liz Carey, Bourbon Disasters Not Uncommon, Industry Works to Protect Itself, The State Journal (Feb. 21, 2020)https://www.state-journal.com/business/focus-bourbon-disasters-not-uncommon-industry-works-to-protect-itself/article_4f3f6344-54de-11ea-a870-3baa0f1227c3.html

[10] KRS 224.1-400, https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=41566.

[11] Id.

[12] 40 C.F.R. § 1600.3.

[13] Id.

[14] Id.

[15] 40 C.F.R. § 1600.2.

[16] KRS 224.1-400, https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=41566.

[17] Lucienne Cross, Whiskey Spill in Kentucky Kills Thousands of Fish, Inhabitant (Jul. 10, 2019) https://inhabitat.com/whiskey-spill-in-kentucky-kills-thousands-of-fish/; Jim Beam will pay state for fish killed after fire, Associated Press (Sep. 10, 2003) https://archive.vn/20140407162839/http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2003/09/10/loc_kyfishkill10.html

[18] Savannah Eadens, Jim Beam to pay $600,000 fine for bourbon fire that killed fish in Kentucky, Ohio rivers, Louisville Courier Journal (Dec. 27, 2019) https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2019/12/27/kentucky-bourbon-fire-jim-beam-fined-after-fire-leads-fish-kill/2759860001/

[19] Revenue of Suntory Holdings Limited from 2012 to 2019 with a forecast for 2020, Statista (Jun. 19, 2020), https://www.statista.com/statistics/780425/suntory-net-sales/#:~:text=Suntory's%20revenue%202012%2D2020&text=In%202020%2C%20the%20revenue%20of,yen%20in%20the%20previous%20year.