Contact: Regina Weiss – 212-991-1069; 917-288-5251; regina@gracelinks.org
Study indicates corn ethanol more polluting than regular gasoline
July 29, 2008 - With the EPA about to announce whether it will waive a federal requirement that would increase the amount of biofuel drivers get at the pump, some analysts are pointing to the environmental costs of ethanol.
Recent debate over corn ethanol has focused on its role in higher food prices, with environmental costs taking a back seat. However, research published in the journal Science indicates that producing corn ethanol creates twice the global warming emissions of regular gasoline due to the conversion of forest and grassland to cropland. At the same time, a report by the Network for New Energy Choices details current environmental costs of corn ethanol production, including soil erosion, depletion of fresh water supplies and destruction of ocean habitat endangering fish and other marine life.
Last year alone 12 million new acres of corn were brought into production in the U.S., contributing to the depletion of fresh water supplies and adding to agro-chemical runoff from the nation’s corn belt that has already created an enormous "dead zone" – the size of New Jersey and growing – in the Gulf of Mexico.
"The environmental damage caused by the rapid conversion of land for corn production, including recent analysis showing that ethanol will increase, rather than decrease greenhouse gas emissions, strongly argues against new federal mandates for additional ethanol production," said Dulce Fernandes, associate director of the Network for New Energy Choices. "Meanwhile, there are immediate steps we believe our nation should take to balance energy demands with the need to address climate change and preserve the nation’s farmland and water supply."
The Network’s report, "The Rush to Ethanol: Not All Biofuels Are Created Equal," is available here. In a letter sent to members of Congress last week accompanied by the report, Network analysts advised that the EPA should be allowed to waive the corn-based component of the federal biofuels mandate and initiate research authorized by the 2007 federal energy bill to study the impacts of expanding corn ethanol production. In addition, they proposed that sustainability criteria be established for the production of ethanol and the feed stocks grown to make it.
"Biofuels will undeniably play a part in our energy future," Fernandes said. "Now is the time to study the effects, so that we adopt them in ways that are beneficial, rather than destructive."
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