Iowa State Economist Issues Biofuels Warning

Farm Futures.com
(6/18/2009) Farm Futures staff

Robert Wisner says contradictory mandates could be big trouble for the industry.

Biofuels policy is in turmoil over directions pushed by the Obama administration, regulators and the industry, and Iowa State University Biofuels Economist Robert Wisner warns the contradictory mandates could slow or halt growth. He says that both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board are moving too fast in relying on unproven "indirect land use emission impacts."

Wisner writes, in a new report, that instead of downgrading the environmental benefits of U.S. corn-based ethanol based on possible conversion of pasture and forests to cropland in other countries, "much more research is needed on these issues to accurately measure indirect land use impacts."

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