The Facts on Ethanol

> Overview

> Food and Fuel

> Higher Blends

> Performance

> Blender's Credit

> Ethanol Tariff

> Natural Carbon Cycle

> Indirect Land Use Change

> Water Use

> Renewable Fuel Standard

The Facts on Ethanol - Indirect Land Use Change

Attempts to determine the indirect impact of ethanol production on land use changes around the world vary drastically and are completely dependent upon the assumptions of the researcher. Many studies have been performed on the impact of ethanol production on land use change. In a March 2009 letter to California Gov. Schwarzenegger, 111 scientists from institutions including MIT, UC -- Berkeley, Sandia National Laboratories, UC -- Davis, University of Massachusetts -- Amherst, and others said "this field of science is in its nascent stage, is controversial in much of the scientific community, and is only being enforced against biofuels in the proposed LCFS."

Potential Growth for Biofuels on Abandoned Agriculture Lands

We believe raising bioenergy crops on agriculturally degraded and abandoned lands is emerging as a sustainable approach to bioenergy that provides environmental benefits and climate change mitigation without creating food-fuel competition for land or releasing the carbon stored in forests.

One Stanford University study states that there are over 1 billion acres of abandoned agriculture lands in the world. These lands have been defined as areas that have been abandoned to crop and pasture due to the relocation of agriculture and due to degradation from intensive use.

Deforestation happened before biofuels and is decreasing.

Deforestation in the Amazon declined sharply just as American biofuels production doubled. According to Brazil's National Institute of Space Research, in 2004, 10,588 square miles of the Amazon were deforested. In 2008, that number had dropped to 4,621 square miles. In 2009, that number fell to 2,700 square miles. In 2010 it fell another 16%.

Ethanol is getting better, oil is getting worse.

Many people believe the "easy" sources of oil have been found and are being depleted. What is left are more remote, costlier and more environmentally damaging nontraditional sources like Canadian tar sands. By failing to capitalize on the opportunity ethanol offers to begin breaking our adherence to the oil standard, the world may be forced to develop these nontraditional sources of oil that carry significant environmental price tags.

The ethanol industry is rapidly evolving. New technologies are improving efficiencies, allowing for the conversion of new feedstocks such as agriculture and forestry waste, and improving this industry's already green footprint. Rushing to judgment about ethanol before the technology is allowed to evolve excludes a valuable tool in the effort to address global climate change.

The negative studies also fail to account for future improvements in agricultural practices, like increases in conservation tilling and seed corn traits that require less fertilizer and water.