Ethanol from Corn. Good or Bad?

In the environment, as in life, truth is only your perspective. It is difficult to determine what is really good for the environment. I believe this is because of the basic laws of thermodynamics. The use of energy for work results in a more disordered system (pollution). If we use energy then we will cause more disorder. Excuse me for my digression... back to corn.

In the beginning, the corn farmers in the Midwest found a great use for excess corn. Turn corn into ethanol that can be used as fuel. This worked well because corn was in excess and therefore was cheap. The first ethanol plants were build close to the corn fields. Big money was made this way and investment dollars rolled in. These corn farmer associations then advocated how fuel ethanol was good for the environment. Soon after, the government started passing regulations mandating the use of ethanol in fuel.

Ethanol in fuel is fundamentally good. But issues arise when the government requires ethanol. It disrupts the normal supply and demand laws of economics. When corn is cheap, the farmers can turn it into ethanol. When corn is expensive, farmers sell the corn on the open market. Now we are faced with hugely escalating corn prices because farmers are locked into ethanol production.

However, the high price of corn cannot be completely blamed on the ethanol market. Oil has increased and is exerting huge cost increases in all food sources. But corn has shown increases greater than other food sources. And considering that three million acres of prime corn land has been flooded within the last week, expect truly higher prices in food by the end of summer.

A large portion of the scientific community now feels that turning food into ethanol is bad. But in my opinion, food based ethanol is only the first stepping stone to other renewable energy sources. Right now companies across the planet are converting waste cellulose into diesel fuel. A company in Bryan, TX has developed a process to produce gasoline from any cellulosic waste material; cow manure, wood chips, waste paper, municipal waste, etc. On a large scale, they expect the price of renewable gasoline to be around $2.20/gallon. These are not pie in the sky ideas. These engineers have been developing these processes for over fifteen years. And these processes are making gasoline today.

On my last note, I hate paying $4/gallon for fuel. But at least the high prices have made people get off their gas and do something about it.

West Texas Environmental

Premiere issue of West Texas Environmental. This site will cover environmental issues related to permitting and regulations. Feel free to ask any questions related to the environment. I'll try to give the best answer possible.

It can be confusing on who handles what in the state of Texas. I have dealt with the EPA, TCEQ (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality), Texas Health Department, TxDOT, Texas Railroad Commission, US Army Corps of Engineers, and Texas Parks and Wildlife. In addition to the above, each local City and County Government may have their individual regulations.

Of course the big one in Texas, for the environment, is the TCEQ covering at least 90% of the regulations. The rest of the organizations just don't want to give up their little piece of the pie.

In each posting I will try to cover a small section of a specific regulation or try to give guidelines on how to get something done for the environment. You would be surprised how a single person can help shape our regulations.