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| Headline |
Author |
Published |
Section |
Ethanol waste: Good for Rover?
The pet-food industry takes a serious look at distillers grains |
Tom Philpott |
06 Oct 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Should the mush left over after the ethanol process -- known as distillers grains -- be fed to farm animals? There's been little real debate around that question, even though a) heavy use of distillers grains as cow feed has been linked to deadly E. Coli 0157H7 outbreaks; and b), the mush has been shown to contain all manner of residues from the ethanol process, including industrial chemicals and antibiotics. While questions surrounding distillers grains as animal f ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, animal welfare, ethanol, food, industrial ag (all these topics) |
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October surprises
Enviro news from the presidential campaign trail |
Kate Sheppard |
06 Oct 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The New Republic looks at Sarah Palin's record as governor of Alaska, focusing on toxic waste and the health of the state's residents. The state has a rate of birth-defects twice the national average, and many believe it's because of the 'toxic stew' from the byproducts of mining and energy development like arsenic, mercury, and lead. Like other political leaders in the state, Palin has prioritized industry over environmental protection for years, resisting measures ... |
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| Topics: coal, elections, ethanol, John McCain, Muckraker, news, oil and gas drilling, politics, presidential race 08, Sarah Palin (all these topics) |
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ReGeneration Roadtrip: Buffers and biomass
Streamlining the agricultural process in Iowa |
Sarah van Schagen |
03 Oct 2008 |
Gristmill |
| This is a guest post by my travel partner, Todd Dwyer, head blogger for Dell's ReGeneration.org, where this post originally appeared. ----- I have a shocking piece of news for you. You may want to sit down for this: Agriculture is big business in Iowa. Did I say 'big?' Maybe that's an understatement. Of the state's 35 million acres, 31 million are used for agricultural purposes, and Iowa stands amongst the world's most altered land in the world. ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, business, ethanol, Iowa, ReGeneration Roadtrip, scientific research, video (all these topics) |
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Wheat and ethanol: They just don't mix
New research shows that ethanol will continue to increase the cost of wheat |
Meredith Niles |
19 Sep 2008 |
Gristmill |
| I, like most Americans, love bread. Crusty, warm, and fresh-baked bread is a carb overload I am willing to indulge in even if it means a few extra minutes of running. But the American love affair with all things baked might be at jeopardy. We all know that oil and water don't mix, but it's becoming increasingly clear that wheat and ethanol are a bad combination as well. New research from the University of Illinois indicates that the high prices for wheat, as well as ... |
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| Topics: ethanol, biofuels, scientific research, food, agriculture (all these topics) |
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GOP platform: No ethanol mandate
Energy politics take a weird turn |
Tom Philpott |
05 Sep 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Kate Sheppard mentioned it in her tireless coverage of the Republican convention, but it bears highlighting again: The official GOP presidential platform calls for an end to the biofuel mandate. Now, politics makes strange bedfellows, and sudden Republican opposition to biofuels stems largely from meat-industry shrieks about high grain prices. For example, Texas Gov. Rick Perry -- who learned crony capitalism at the knee of his mentor, G.W. Bush -- only found anti-et ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, business, elections, ethanol, politics, presidential race 08 (all these topics) |
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Ten strikes and still not out
Biofuels: not cost-effective or lucrative for climate change or business |
biodiversivist |
03 Sep 2008 |
Gristmill |
| According to this article in Mongabay, a study from a British think tank is calling for an end to subsidies for biofuels based on -- not biodiversity loss and high food prices -- cost effectiveness. The economics is startling -- if developed countries spent the same amount of money on preventing deforestation and the destruction of peatlands as they do on biofuel subsidies (US $15 billion), this would halve the total costs of tackling climate change. In addition to t ... |
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| Topics: Seattle, energy subsidies, business, ethanol, biofuels, energy (all these topics) |
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Energy at the crossroads
Carbon sequestration is a GM solution; we need a Honda solution |
Guest author |
25 Aug 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The following is a guest essay from Peter Montague, executive director of the Environmental Research Foundation. ----- Vaclav Smil is a historian of technical advances -- particularly in the field of energy -- and a Distinguished Professor at the University of Manitoba in Canada. Over the years, Smil has written more than 25 books and many dozens of articles. In recent years he has been examining human uses of energy over past millennia. As Smil says [PDF], " ... |
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| Topics: carbon sequestration, energy, ethanol, nuclear power (all these topics) |
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Corn guzzler
What it means to put 4.1 billion bushels of corn into our gas tanks |
Tom Philpott |
13 Aug 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The USDA just raised its projection for how much corn it expects the ethanol industry to burn through this year by 150 million bushels. It now expects a total of 4.1 billion bushels of corn to be turned into liquid fuel. That's about double the amount of corn that went to ethanol in 2006 (2.1 billion bushels), and a third again as much as last year (3 billion bushels.) The USDA now expects the '08 corn harvest to hit 12.3 billion bushels. That means that 33 percent of ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, biofuels, Department of Agriculture, ethanol, greenhouse-gas emissions (all these topics) |
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EPA: Corn ethanol is awesome!
The discredited agency upholds the biofuel mandate |
Tom Philpott |
07 Aug 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The environmental value of corn ethanol got a ringing endorsement Thursday from EPA chief Stephen Johnson. Johnson declined a request to cut the Renewable Fuel Standard embedded in the 2007 Energy Act. The RFS mandates 9 billion gallons of corn-based ethanol be blended into the fuel supply this year, rising steadily to 15 billion gallons by 2015, and then holding steady at 15 billion gallons until 2022. To produce 9 billion gallons this year, ethanol makers will ch ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, ethanol, politics, Stephen Johnson, US EPA (all these topics) |
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The Fuel's Progress
EPA refuses to lower requirement for ethanol in fuel supply |
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07 Aug 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 12:39 PM on 07 Aug 2008 The U.S. EPA gave a big, husky hug to corn ethanol Thursday, declining a request from Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) to reduce the amount of ethanol required to be blended into the U.S. fuel supply. The federal Renewable Fuel Standard mandates that 9 billion gallons of corn-based ethanol be poured into U.S. gas tanks this year -- which will suck up about a third of the U.S. corn crop. The ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, energy, ethanol, food, news, politics, United States (all these topics) |
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An agricultural Waterloo
Globalization failed, cheap oil is gone, local production is the only way forward |
Jim Goodman |
07 Aug 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Bigger is always better, isn't it? Big cars, big houses, big businesses, big farms. If you were big, you made more money. Clearly, that is the way of the world. When Europeans colonized the Americas, they wanted more land -- not some of it; all of it. Napoleon wanted more land. Nothing stopped him until Waterloo. So, do you think that the human race, has reached its Waterloo? Have we finally hit the wall with our never-ending desire for 'bigness'? I decided years ago ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, biofuels, business, CSAs, economy, ethanol, industrial ag (all these topics) |
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A revolt against ethanol?
NYT: Consumers are complaining about ethanol-spiked gasoline |
Tom Philpott |
29 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| As ethanol continues to insinuate itself into the fuel supply -- propelled by a slew of government goodies -- ordinary folks are getting fed up, The New York Times reports: Many consumers complain that ethanol, which constitutes as much as 10 percent of the fuel they buy in most states, hurts gas mileage and chokes the engines of their boats and motorcycles. In Oklahoma, some vendors are refusing to sell ethanol-spiked gasoline. And they're winning customers with ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, energy, ethanol, fuel efficiency (all these topics) |
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Industrial food and fuel forever!
If we just trust Monsanto and ADM, we can eat and drive to our heart's content |
Tom Philpott |
28 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| I've been a pretty harsh critic of industrial agriculture for a while. I've also been known to utter unkind words about the government's extraordinary, multibillion-dollar effort to promote ethanol. But I've changed my mind. I now believe chemical-dependent, monocrop agriculture can be counted on to not only 'feed the world,' but also keep its hundreds of millions of cars on the road -- now and forever. What turned me around? This news: Archer Daniels Midland Co., D ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, Big Ag, biofuels, ethanol, food, industrial ag (all these topics) |
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Notable quotable
Ugly babies |
David Roberts |
17 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| 'Ethanol is an ugly baby, but it's our baby. I'm not against any fuel unless it's foreign.' -- oil billionaire and energy independence evangelist T. Boone Pickens |
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| Topics: energy, ethanol, quotables, T Boone Pickens (all these topics) |
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Top of the crops
USDA scientist: Some crop residues may be too valuable for biofuels |
Ron Steenblik |
17 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Converting crop residues into cellulosic ethanol sounds to many people like a good idea -- certainly better than using food crops themselves. Yet according to respected USDA soil scientist Ann Kennedy, the stems and leaves left over after crops are harvested may have more value if they are left on the ground, especially in areas receiving less than 25 inches of precipitation annually. That includes most of the United States (click on link to see map) west of the 100th ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, biofuels, ethanol, scientific research (all these topics) |
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The Guardian uncovers a 'secret' World Bank biofuel report
Economist says biofuels have pushed up global food prices by 75 percent |
Tom Philpott |
05 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The 'Republican war on science' has evidently opened a new front: economics, a discipline often fetishized by the right. In a startling article published July 4, the Guardian reports that in a "secret" study, a World Bank senior economist concluded that the recent explosion in biofuels use has driven global food prices up by 75 percent -- a number much higher than estimates from other major sources. The USDA -- which has vigorously defended President Bush's se ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, economy, ethanol, food, World Bank (all these topics) |
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Sweetening the deal
Lugar calls for end to tariff on Brazilian sugarcane ethanol |
Kate Sheppard |
03 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) stopped by ($ub. req'd) the American Enterprise Institute yesterday to give a speech arguing that Congress should lift the 54-cents-a-gallon tariff on imported ethanol. 'To demonstrate leadership the United States should lift its tariff on Brazilian ethanol that now shelters the U.S. industry,' Lugar told the AEI crowd. Many politicians -- including Lugar, who's from a big corn state -- have supported the tariff to protect American biofuel ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, energy, ethanol, Muckraker, news, politics (all these topics) |
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A fuel's errand
Republican House members ask EPA to scale back ethanol mandate |
Kate Sheppard |
02 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| More than 50 Republican representatives sent a letter [PDF] to the Environmental Protection Agency last week urging the agency to lower the mandate for ethanol production in response to both the recent flooding in the Midwest and drought in the South. They argue that one-third of the country's corn crop will be used for ethanol to meet the Renewable Fuel Standard, and while the weather this year will cause a decrease in supply of corn, the RFS will increase demand ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, Congress, energy, ethanol, Muckraker, news, politics, regulation, severe weather, US EPA (all these topics) |
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How biofuels are like drugs
Not all biofuels are the same; we can do biofuel well or poorly |
Vinod Khosla |
17 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| To my surprise, recently I found myself the subject of an editorial by the Wall Street Journal which characterized me as a strong advocate of subsidies for food-based ethanol, and as a recipient of 'federal dole' who ought to 'take a vow of embarrassed silence.' I have not advocated subsidies for food-based ethanol. In fact, I strongly believe any nascent technology that cannot exist without subsidies beyond an introductory period will not gain market penetrati ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, energy, ethanol (all these topics) |
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Gulf dead zone: Not getting smaller
As fertilizer flows from the Midwest, a vast algae bloom thrives below the Mississippi |
Tom Philpott |
12 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Every year since the early 1980s, a monstrous algae bloom has risen up in the Gulf of Mexico, fed by fertilizer runoff from Midwest farms. The nasty growth sucks oxygen from the ocean beneath it -- snuffing out sea life even as climate change and other human-induced factors threaten the globe's fish stocks. Ironically, as fish go belly up in the Gulf, the bulk of the corn and soy grown on Midwest farms ends up in feedlots to fatten the livestock that feed America's rav ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, biofuels, ethanol, fishing, Mississippi (all these topics) |
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Manifestos for the next president
Climate action plans for the first 100 days and beyond |
Maywa Montenegro |
12 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| I am blown away by the depth and scope of the nonpartisan Presidential Climate Action Project. Its centerpiece is a first-100-days plan, detailed in a 300-page report, covering issues ranging from energy policy and green collar jobs to the farm bill and ethanol subsidies to the Law of the Sea. My only quibble is the continued support for grain ethanol -- although the project does advocate quick turnover to cellulosic sources -- how quick that evolution will be is a ... |
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| Topics: ag policy, climate, energy, ethanol, politics (all these topics) |
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Corn polls
New surveys suggest changing views on biofuels |
Ron Steenblik |
11 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Biofuel policy has made it to the polls. Yesterday, the National Center for Public Policy Research, a nonprofit, non-partisan educational foundation based in Washington, D.C., released the results of a survey (PDF) conducted at the beginning of this month which claims to have found that most Americans -- 'including those in the Farm Belt' -- want Congress to reduce or eliminate the mandated use of corn ethanol. In response to the key question, 'What do you think Congr ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, biofuels, climate, energy, ethanol, European Union, politics (all these topics) |
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Slave ethanol?
Amnesty International: forced labor in Brazil's sugarcane fields |
Tom Philpott |
30 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| As the case for corn-based ethanol unravels, a lot of pundits and green-minded investors have settled on a new panacea: ethanol from sugar cane, which thrives in the tropics. Thomas Friedman has been blustering about it for years now; Richard Branson recently hinted he might start investing in it. Sugarcane is a deeply ironic crop on which to hang a 'sustainable energy revolution.' Historically, the spread of sugarcane in Caribbean islands and South America involved ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, Brazil, energy, environmental justice, ethanol (all these topics) |
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The farm bill ups the cellulosic ethanol ante
Lost amid the crop-subsidy battle, a new biofuel regime |
Tom Philpott |
24 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Amid all the thunder and lightening about subsidies in the new farm bill -- which officially became law Thursday -- Congress made a major policy shift with regard to the goodies lavished on ethanol makers. Under previous policy, biofuel makers -- whether conventional or cellulosic -- benefit from a 51 cent a gallon tax credit conferred on gasoline blenders. No any more. According to a recent Environmental Law & Policy Center memorandum [PDF] summing up th ... |
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| Topics: ag policy, agriculture, biofuels, energy, ethanol, legislation, politics (all these topics) |
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Is there no end to it?
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David Roberts |
05 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| First McCain panders to middle-class drivers, now he's pandering to Ron Steenblick! |
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| Topics: ethanol, John McCain, politics (all these topics) |
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