Des Moines Register
08-08-07
Expert warns of ethanol pollution
Decisions on growing corn and other feedstocks for the fuel additive are critical,
environmental leaders hear.
By PERRY BEEMAN
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
Iowa policymakers face tough decisions in the coming decades as the ethanol
boom threatens to increase chemical and soil pollution in streams and emissions
of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, an Iowa State University
authority told a state panel Tuesday.
Rick Cruse, director of the Iowa Water Center at ISU, told the governorappointed Iowa Environmental Protection Commission that decisions on how to
grow corn or other crops used to make ethanol will play a huge role in whether
the burgeoning biofuels industry is a boon or on ecological bust.
The commission helps write state environmental rules.
"The political machine has said with multiple voices Iowa is, has been or will be
the bioenergy capital of the world," Cruse said. "If done correctly, it could be a
Garden of Eden, literally. If it is done inappropriately, it might look like Saudi
Arabia desert, with an empty oil field underneath."
Cruse said that "there could be huge conflicts," particularly if the nation moves to
converting corn stubble, needed to replenish the soil, into ethanol.
That could mean less fertile soil, and much higher soil erosion, for example, he
said.
"The feds want to use the residue for fuel," Cruse said. "The farmers want to sell
the residue. The soil needs the residue. This is the conflict. I don't know if we can
overcome it.
"Can we balance the energy needs and the soil needs? We need to take care of
soil resources if we are going to come close to the goals for feedstock
production" for ethanol manufacturing, he added.
The commission took no action after Cruse's comments, and only a few
commissioners posed questions. There was no immediate indication whether the
panel will consider formal rule-making regarding biofuels at some point.
Iowa is the nation's largest producer of ethanol, a fuel additive that makes
gasoline burn more efficiently. Ethanol eventually may be made out of
switchgrass or corn stubble from fields.
Ethanol also is a major Iowa growth industry credited with helping push corn
prices sharply higher. As the industry ramped up, pollution issues arose.
Reporter Perry Beeman can be reached at 515-284-8538 or
pbeeman@dmreg.com