By Theodora Filis
Ethanol proponents have largely downplayed the negative environmental impacts of increased ethanol production, while emphasizing the positive impacts. But by ignoring the negatives, all of us, and future generations, are being put at risk.
Ethanol, an alcohol-based fuel, is made by fermenting and then distilling starch or sugar crops such as sugar-cane, maize, sorghum, wheat and other grains, or even cornstalks, fruit and vegetable waste. Ethanol can be used as a fuel for non-diesel engines, to spark ignition, or as an additive to gasoline engines.
In the US, ethanol is mostly manufactured from starchy crops like corn.
Ethanol has been promoted as a cleaner-burning alternative to gasoline for many years, and carries the image of an environmentally friendly fuel since it's derived from plants and plant waste. Experts say replacing gas with ethanol blends will reduce greenhouse gases and help the fight against global warming.
There are environmental benefits, as well as negative environmental consequences from using ethanol as fuel. If the ethanol is produced from industrial corn farms, more negative environmental consequences can be added.
Too, more than 200 US ethanol refineries in operation or under construction, mostly in Nebraska and Kansas, also emit thousands of tons of pollutants a year, including nitrogen oxide, a key element of smog.
Increased use of ethanol could raise smog levels about 1% in some areas of the country, according to Environmental Protection Agency officials. However, the EPA increased how much pollutants ethanol plants can emit before facing tougher restrictions, prompting concern among some environmental groups.
Additional problems from producing ethanol come from increased corn farming. Corn farming and conversion to ethanol consume enormous amounts of fresh water. More environmental problems arise when using genetically engineered corn developed by Syngenta.
Syngenta corn contains a microbial gene that causes it to produce an enzyme that breaks down corn starch into sugar, the first step toward making ethanol.
“If this corn is combined with other corn, it will have significant adverse impacts on food product quality and performance,” the North American Millers’ Association said in a statement. Ethanol manufacturers now buy this enzyme, called alpha amylase, in liquid form and add it to the corn at the start of their production process.
The corn, which is called Enogen, is one of the first crops genetically engineered to contain a trait that influences use of the plant after harvest. Enogen is also one of the first to be engineered solely for industrial purposes.
The Agriculture Department said the corn met the statutory requirements for approval.
The corn approval is the third recent one in which the Agriculture Department has had to weigh the risks of the spread of a genetically engineered trait.
The Ethanol Security Act of 2007, which is intended to reduce the country's dependence on foreign oil, mandates a gradual changeover to renewable fuels through 2022, which will require the use of increasingly higher mixes of ethanol in gasoline.
On Jan. 21 the Environmental Protection Agency expanded its ethanol rule, allowing the use of 15 percent ethanol mixes in cars, SUVs and light trucks.
The Minnesota Legislature is now considering a bill to expand the use of ethanol in the state. It wants to require a 20-percent ethanol blend in gasoline by the year 2012. In Congress, farm state lawmakers are pushing for more ethanol use all across the nation.
Once again, we are being force fed something that sounds too good to be true – and is. Sad, but true, ethanol is not environmentally friendly.
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