The Hill's Energy and Environmental Blog is reporting today that a draft Environmental Protection Agency report "concludes that expanded production of renewable fuels like ethanol and biodiesel carries an array of ecological risks in the U.S. and other nations, and calls for improved policies to mitigate these harms."
Wouldn't it be easier just to develop our nation's carbon energy resources and be done with it? (The devil you know, etc.)
A 2007 energy law includes a requirement that a new analysis of the ecological effects of expanding the development of biofuels be done. The article reports:
"The report comes as ethanol is already under attack from some environmentalists, and lawmakers seeking to strip tax subsidies. But renewable fuels are valued as a way to displace oil reliance and boost rural economies, and retain powerful political support on Capitol Hill.
"Elsewhere, the report addresses effects on wildlife and habitat. "Increased cultivation of feedstocks for biofuel could significantly affect biodiversity through habitat alteration when uncultivated land is put into production," it states, also noting risks of plant and animal exposure to pesticides, nutrient runoff into waters and other effects."
This is another journey into the world of unintended consequences. There will come a day when America can be weaned from her dependence on carbon fuel. However, that day will come as a result of a free market and the removal of some of the choking federal regulations that impact businesses. In the past, an idea was not generally successful the first time it was attempted, but inventors and companies understood the rewards of trying something until they achieved success. When the government overtaxes and overregulates, creativity decreases. Government subsidies do not create inventions and innovations, they inhibit them.
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