Ethanol - Good or Bad Idea?

Consumers are being told Ethanol drives economic development! Providing cleaner air in America and offering a cost effective solution to gasoline. Ethanol is made primarily from corn and other agricultural products and is combined with unleaded gasoline and used as a motor fuel, decreasing fuel’s cost while increasing the fuel’s octane rating. You might be thinking “This sounds great”. Hundreds of new jobs will be created in the area of an ethanol plant, a new demand for crops will help our farmers, ethanol is made in America and it is environmentally friendly! Or…. Is it?

An Ethanol plant in NE will produce 44 million gallons of ethanol a year, with the capability of using as much as 515 million gallons of water annually. The two plants in the area have been approved for drawing as much as 1 billion gallons of water annually. Keep in mind, the 250+ residents who live in the area use about 10 million gallons of water each year. NE’s 16 operating ethanol plants make a little under 1 billion gallons of the fuel, using three gallons of water to produce each gallon of ethanol, that’s 3 billion gallons of water annually. Think something’s wrong with these numbers? Let’s go on…

How does ethanol really affect our land? Organizations like Duck’s Unlimited, Pheasants Forever, Trout Unlimited, etc. are dedicated to conserving and protecting our wetlands, waterfowl, cold water fisheries and other wildlife through habitat improvements, public awareness, etc. A report was released by Ducks Unlimited officials showing 600,000 acres of land enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program will expire in MN by 2010. One-third of ND’s CRP contracts will expire by 2010 and 4.5 million acres of CRP in IA, ND, SD and MT will expire within the next 5 yeas. The concern is great for how much land will actually be re-enrolled with the increasing demand for corn production. 400,000 acres of CRP grasslands have already been plowed up in ND, shocking wildlife representatives. These are some of the most productive duck-rearing areas in North America. For those of you who are not familiar with what the CRP is, let’s take a closer look. The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) was created to provide technical and financial assistance to eligible farmers/ranchers to address soil, water and related natural resource concerns on their lands in an environmentally beneficial and cost-effective manner. The program encourages environmental enhancement which protects the Nation’s ability to produce food and fiber, reduces sedimentation in streams and lakes, improves water quality, establishes wildlife habitat and enhances forest and wetland resources. Below is an analysis by the USDA regarding CRP:

• CRP reduces the annual cropland soil loss by about 450 million tons -- enough to fill approximately 37.5 million dump trucks.
• CRP has restored 2 million acres of wetlands and adjacent buffers.
• CRP has protected 170 thousand miles of streams.
• CRP sequesters 48 million tons of carbon dioxide annually.
• CRP produces 15 million pheasants annually.
• CRP produces 2.2 million ducks per year in the Prairie Pothole Region.

How does Ethanol help us economically? Supply and Demand… the price of corn has jumped from $2-a-bushel to above $5 in 2008, a historic high. Not only has this affected livestock farmers who need corn for feed, but also the packaged-food companies who recently sent a letter to senators with their concerns about ethanol and how it would affect their ability to produce competitively available, affordable food. This includes Coca Cola Co., PepsiCo Inc., Kellogg Co., Nestle USA, Dean Foods Co. and H.J. Heinz Co. So far as the price for fuel… you are driving up the price of a product when adding an ingredient that is pricier than the product itself.

I can’t say I am an expert on Ethanol but after doing a little research what I found concerned me. Of course being an angler my concerns for ethanol encompass the danger to the Trout on my local streams as well as inflation in food prices. These plants will have an affect that may cause a huge loss of CRP contracts, a future filled with drought, erosion, high water temperatures, chemicals applied to the ground, loss in wildlife and waterfowl habitats and much more. Ethanol plants will not only affect the angler and hunter but also every individual who purchases food! After researching on your own, please get involved with the fight against ethanol!