Biofuels and the Environment: “An extensive report from the Environmental Protection Agency found that including ethanol into the U.S. gas supply is wreaking havoc on the atmosphere and soil.”
Ecosystem health and biodiversity
• The conversion of environmentally-sensitive land to cropland consistent with increased production of current biofuel feedstocks is associated with negative impacts to ecosystem health and biodiversity
Water quality
• Demand for biofuel feedstocks may contribute to harmful algal blooms, as recently observed in western Lake Erie, and to hypoxia, as observed in the northern Gulf of Mexico.
Water quantity
• There are some indications of increased water use due to increases in irrigated areas for corn and elevated land conversion rates in more arid Western states. Adverse water availability impacts will most likely arise in already-stressed aquifers and surface watersheds. Irrigation practices are dependent on a number of economic and agronomic factors that drive land management practices making attribution of increased irrigation and water quantity to biofuels difficult.
Soil quality
• Conversion of grasslands to annual production of the dominant biofuel feedstocks typically adversely affects soil quality, with increases in erosion and the loss of soil nutrients and soil organic matter, including soil carbon.
https://cfpub.epa.gov/si/si_public_file_download.cfm?p_download_id=536328&Lab=IO
Ecosystem health and biodiversity
• The conversion of environmentally-sensitive land to cropland consistent with increased production of current biofuel feedstocks is associated with negative impacts to ecosystem health and biodiversity
Water quality
• Demand for biofuel feedstocks may contribute to harmful algal blooms, as recently observed in western Lake Erie, and to hypoxia, as observed in the northern Gulf of Mexico.
Water quantity
• There are some indications of increased water use due to increases in irrigated areas for corn and elevated land conversion rates in more arid Western states. Adverse water availability impacts will most likely arise in already-stressed aquifers and surface watersheds. Irrigation practices are dependent on a number of economic and agronomic factors that drive land management practices making attribution of increased irrigation and water quantity to biofuels difficult.
Soil quality
• Conversion of grasslands to annual production of the dominant biofuel feedstocks typically adversely affects soil quality, with increases in erosion and the loss of soil nutrients and soil organic matter, including soil carbon.
https://cfpub.epa.gov/si/si_public_file_download.cfm?p_download_id=536328&Lab=IO
