Biofuel Plants Causing Air, Water and Soil Problems in Iowa
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.13.07
Fun with Googlemashing: Click on the red icons and see all of the environmental charges against biofuel plants in Iowa. (real map here) Find 276 cases of water contamination, 27 cases of hazardous air pollutants, 3 violations of illegal dumping, 1 major fish kill, and 17 charges of operating without a permit.
According to the Des Moines Register: t is the breadth of the offenses, rather than the number, that surprises Barbara Lynch, who supervises the state's environmental inspectors.
"It's very significant," Lynch said. "We anticipated some issues, but we were disappointed there were so many issues.
"One of the things about ethanol and the biofuels is they impact every arena: air, water, drinking water, construction wastes. It seems like they cut across every program we have."
Regulators and scientists say that as biofuel production grows, more focus is needed on the impact on natural resources.
"The implications of this industry in Iowa are huge," said Rick Cruse, director of the Iowa Water Center at Iowa State University in Ames. "If it isn't done right, it could be devastating to some resources." ::Des Moines Register
This is a bummer. I have been driving around my veggie car for a few months now, hoping there will be an easy alternative to going to restaurants and collecting... Seems like big business knows no other way...
Are the people running this in Iowa Green? Or do they just see an opportunity to get the crops going again? Either way, some sort of eco-based oversight committee needs to be involved.
Cheers,
Donnie C.
Biofuel plants should be subject to the same level of pollution scrutiny as any industrial plant. There is absolutely no excuse for the number of violations being presented.
adrianakau2aol.com
I wish y'all would use Live Maps, if you're going to use any map. Pushpins on Live Maps look way more awesome than Google Maps does.
But this is still cool too.
Hi: I thought that it was going to take longer for the oil companies to get involved in biofuels, ethanol, but it was pretty fast to try to kill any initiative for independence of oil. Fosil fuels are not only dirty and contaminate our environment but create foreign economic dependency for this country. Oil companies have so much money that it is incredible they are trying to get us continue depending on it and the incredible thing here is that people is always willing to help the wrong side. I don't know how correct are the allegations about biofuel plants pollution, but we should break our dependency and the contamination that fosil fuels produce. Thanks.