The Latest on Biofuels
The surest way to ensure that second-generation advanced biofuels remain in their test tubes and never see the spark of an engine is to pass a piece of legislation recently introduced (Feb. 14) by Rep. Leonard Boswell (D-Iowa).
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Government researchers have announced a promising technological development that may turn the ethanol industry on its head. In a joint press conference this morning (April 1), top scientists from Growth Energy, joined by representatives of the US Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Treasury Department, gathered to brief the media on a new enzyme, dubbed 'simoleonase,' that could radically change the biofuels landscape.
Read MoreNot so long ago, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) did a new life-cycle analysis of corn ethanol to see if the much-subsidized biofuel meets the standard Congress set in the 2007 Energy Bill for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Read MoreThe third in AgMag’s series of looks at the Obama budget is a hopeful one. First we examined attempts by the Administration to limit the taxpayer-funded payments that ensure profits for the wealthiest farm operations. That idea was instantly stonewalled by Minnesota’s powerful Congressional delegation, which has the Minneapolis City Pages fuming.
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By Craig Cox, Environmental Working Group Senior Vice President and manager of EWG’s Ames, Iowa, branch. On Wednesday (Feb. 3), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) updated its Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) Rule, known as RFS 2, refusing to shift policy on one of the issues most contested by the ethanol industry, the “indirect land use change” rule.
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On Jan. 25, the Le Mars Daily Sentinel reported on growing concerns over Iowa's diminished wild bird population, specifically the ring-necked pheasant: "Last year and this year have been tough," said Chad Morrow, conservation officer with Iowa [Department of Natural Resources] for Plymouth County and part of Cherokee County. "But for pheasants, the true limiting factor comes down to the amount of habitat first; weather is a secondary factor."
Read More“Our research shows that native grassland is being converted into cropland at an alarming rate throughout the Prairie Pothole Region,” said Greg Fogel, study co-author and MS/MPP candidate at the University of Michigan. “As a result, populations of sensitive wildlife species are declining significantly in areas with high increases in corn plantings.” According to the report, U.S. ethanol capacity has grown almost 200 percent since the passage of the 2005 Energy Bill, which mandated a large increase in domestic ethanol production. In addition, the updated Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), passed in 2007, requires corn ethanol production to increase from 10.57 billion gallons in 2009 to 15 billion in 2015.
Read MoreThe word hypocrisy gets tossed around a lot in Washington, where money and power masquerade as character and values. Rarely does the hypocrisy reach such craven heights, however, as a recent request from the leading ethanol trade group, Growth Energy.
Read MoreCould Byron Dorgan, the U.S. senator from North Dakota who just announced that he won't run again, be the next target for Growth Energy's New York Yankees-style spending spree for top DC talent?
Read MoreEWG staffers put our heads together to come up with this list of bad news environmental stories of the last decade that people might have missed. But there were plenty of big stories that hardly anyone could have missed, such as climate change. What's on your list of the biggest environmental stories of the last 10 years?
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WASHINGTON December 1 –The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said today that it will wait until mid-2010 to decide whether to grant a waiver request that would allow up to 15 percent ethanol in gasoline. Growth Energy, an ethanol trade and lobby group, requested the waiver. EPA based its decision on the need to conduct more tests to determine the higher blend’s impact on engines. Under current federal rules gasoline can contain no more than 10 percent ethanol.
Read MoreThe Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that it would wait until mid-2010 to decide on whether to grant a waiver request that would allow for the use of up to 15 percent ethanol in gasoline. Growth Energy, an ethanol trade and lobby group, requested the waiver. EPA based their decision on the need to conduct more tests to determine a higher blend's impact on engines.
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By Craig Cox, Environmental Working Group Midwest vice-president.
Growth Energy, a corn ethanol lobby group, is grossly exaggerating the economic benefits that a higher ethanol blend in the nation’s fuel supply would bring. The group claims that granting its petition to increase the amount of ethanol blended into gasoline from 10 percent to 15 percent would create an additional 136,101 “green jobs.”
Read MoreAll corn, all the time. Good Magazine's YouTube channel has had this punchy, short video up since January, illustrating how corn permeates American life. EWG's work tracking the billions of dollars in taxpayer funded subsides to corn and corn ethanol laid the foundation for artful stuff like this.
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Corn ethanol is far from an environmentally friendly fuel. While petroleum's pollution contributions are obvious and well reported, ethanol's are less clear. However, from chemical fertilizers and pesticides slathered on corn crops (which run off into rivers and streams and eventually end up in the Gulf 'Dead Zone') to the clearing of wildlife habitat, there is much to worry about.
Read MoreLast week saw the launch of a new web property by a coalition of environmental and business groups who take a dim view of plans to raise the ethanol content of gasoline to 15%. The site, Follow the Science, marshals the overwhelming scientific evidence to deliver a focused message to the Obama Administration and Congress to not raise the corn ethanol blend limit by 50%.
Read MoreWhoops.
A study in the journal Science today got widespread news coverage by pointing out a major flaw in the way the world has been calculating the impact of biofuels use on the atmosphere’s greenhouse gas buildup and global warming.
Read MoreSt. Louis Post-Dispatch, Bill Lambrecht
Published June 14, 2007
There was hope for a cure down in the Louisiana bayous even as the Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone expanded like a B-movie blob.
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Finding ways to reduce fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions while producing enough energy to support economic development worldwide is this century’s preeminent challenge. We must meet this challenge while simultaneously reducing environmental degradation, poverty and hunger. The United States must make a sustained commitment to invest in and develop renewable energy sources that contribute to meeting these challenges.
Read MoreStatement of Ken Cook, President, Environmental Working Group House Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson, Ranking Member Bob Goodlatte, members of their committee, and their staffs, are to be commended for working long and hard to produce the Farm Bill passed by the House of Representatives today.
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