Scientists Urge Conservation in Ethanol Production

Environmental Protection News
April 14, 2008

Expanded grain ethanol production will lead to further growth of corn acres in the near term, with unintended negative water quality impacts, according to a group of scientists.

Currently, U.S. grain-based ethanol production is concentrated in the "Corn Belt;" however, several large production plants are under construction or planned near population centers in the eastern United States. An interdisciplinary group of scientists evaluated potential impacts of grain- and cellulose-based ethanol on nutrient and animal management as they relate to water quality impacts on U.S. inland and coastal waters, particularly the Northern Gulf of Mexico (Mississippi River Basin discharge). The results of their evaluation were published in the March–April issue of the Journal of Environmental Quality and were also considered in the U.S. EPA Scientific Advisory Board's 2007 Hypoxia Advisory Panel's report.

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