Fueling Destruction

Just three percent of the country's tall grass prairies remain, but the Boston Globe reports that, "grasslands protected under the Conservation Reserve Program are likely to be used to cultivate corn or other crops as part of next year's farm bill." The reason: Ethanol.

Interest in biofuels is on the rise, especially in the corn belt, where many farmers are beginning to cash in on the new industry. As USAToday reports:

There are 105 ethanol plants in operation [in the Midwest]; almost half are owned by local farmers, according to the Renewable Fuels Association, an industry group. Forty-one more are under construction, and seven are expanding. Capacity is 5 billion gallons a year. When the new plants are running, that number will grow to 7.9 billion.

That may be a good thing in terms of reducing oil imports, but it's hardly the whole solution. According to a recent study from the University of Minnesota, diverting the entire U.S. corn and soybean harvest into biofuels would barely dent overall demand, offsetting only about about 12 percent of gasoline demand and 6 percent of diesel demand.

The impacts of soaring demand for biofuels are already being felt around the globe. As Jeffrey McNeely, chief scientist at the World Conservation Union notes:

With just 10% of the world's sugar harvest being converted to ethanol, the price of sugar has doubled; the price of palm oil has increased 15% over the past year, with a further 25% gain expected next year.

Rising prices in turn inspire more land conversion. Parts of the Amazon are being cleared to plant soy and sugar, and, in Indonesia, tropical forest is right now being burned to clear land for palm oil, transforming what should be a carbon sink into a carbon polluter.

Clearly, if biofuels are to be part of the answer to our energy and climate crises, their adoption will have to be managed more carefully so as not to do more harm than good. In the meantime, we should take the more meaningful step of reducing fuel use by raising fuel economy standards. Don't you think?