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Ethanol may not be "Green"
I just read this interesting item in the Hemming's weekly update:
"Environmental lawsuits block ethanol expansion
So let’s get this straight: Ethanol is supposed to be the gasoline replacement that eases our oil imports and pays a dividend for the American farmer, while at the same time yielding environmental benefits from a cleaner, renewable fuel, right? So why are environmental groups around the country suing to halt construction of ethanol-producing facilities? If you haven’t learned by now that things that sound too good to be true are too good to be true, I’d like to talk about how you can make millions selling real estate without a single dollar down... but that’s another matter.
Now that the bloom is off the corn fuel, er, flower, some hard truths are emerging. By now, you probably know about speculation and wild fluctuations in grain futures, about pork-barrel projects, and about questions of how much energy goes into ethanol production in the first place. What you may not have heard about is the strain that the 140 or so existing ethanol plants place on local infrastructure.
When US Envirofuels began the permitting process for Florida’s first ethanol plant in Tampa, the city put their plans on hold when it emerged that the facility would require 400,000 gallons of water per day to operate — far more than the drought-stricken municipality can safely supply.
Tampa shouldn’t have been surprised, though. In Missouri, Gulfstream Bioflex Energy’s plans to build a plant near Fordlands has run into a lawsuit by the local Citizens for Groundwater Protection, over Gulfstream’s plans to draw over 1.3 million gallons a day from the depleted Ozark aquifer. Missouri water rights currently allow anyone to use as much as they desire.
Similar legal battles are being fought in Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Illinois. “Green,” it turns out, is a matter of perspective.
- By David Traver Adolphus"
The entire newsletter can be found here.
I have not been a fan of this option in the past, but had not heard about the water usage problem before. Another case of jumping in too soon?
I just read this interesting item in the Hemming's weekly update:
"Environmental lawsuits block ethanol expansion
So let’s get this straight: Ethanol is supposed to be the gasoline replacement that eases our oil imports and pays a dividend for the American farmer, while at the same time yielding environmental benefits from a cleaner, renewable fuel, right? So why are environmental groups around the country suing to halt construction of ethanol-producing facilities? If you haven’t learned by now that things that sound too good to be true are too good to be true, I’d like to talk about how you can make millions selling real estate without a single dollar down... but that’s another matter.
Now that the bloom is off the corn fuel, er, flower, some hard truths are emerging. By now, you probably know about speculation and wild fluctuations in grain futures, about pork-barrel projects, and about questions of how much energy goes into ethanol production in the first place. What you may not have heard about is the strain that the 140 or so existing ethanol plants place on local infrastructure.
When US Envirofuels began the permitting process for Florida’s first ethanol plant in Tampa, the city put their plans on hold when it emerged that the facility would require 400,000 gallons of water per day to operate — far more than the drought-stricken municipality can safely supply.
Tampa shouldn’t have been surprised, though. In Missouri, Gulfstream Bioflex Energy’s plans to build a plant near Fordlands has run into a lawsuit by the local Citizens for Groundwater Protection, over Gulfstream’s plans to draw over 1.3 million gallons a day from the depleted Ozark aquifer. Missouri water rights currently allow anyone to use as much as they desire.
Similar legal battles are being fought in Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Illinois. “Green,” it turns out, is a matter of perspective.
- By David Traver Adolphus"
The entire newsletter can be found here.
I have not been a fan of this option in the past, but had not heard about the water usage problem before. Another case of jumping in too soon?
:smirk:
