This all sounds fantastic, but over the past few years, there’s been some environmental concern about this sugar beet brine as well. Some research has indicated that beet juice deicer can be harmful to insects including the mayfly, which are important prey species in their aquatic larval stage. Beet deicer has also been linked to a high biochemical oxygen demand: When microorganisms break down the beet juice sugars, they dramatically reduce the amount of oxygen in a waterway, which can essentially suffocate aquatic animals like fish and amphibians. Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality notes that in topographically flatter places like Michigan, the slow movement of waterways makes them especially susceptible to this kind of event.

Then this was an interesting comment:

Most sugar beets grown in the US are GMO engineered to be Roundup Ready. So advocating for more sugar beets leads to more glyphosate use. As happened with corn and soybeans, Roundup use drives weed resistance. So resistance to older herbicides like Dicamba and 2,4-D are built into sugar beets seed, leading to more herbicide use. There is no free lunch.