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How Ethanol Is Making The Farm Belt Thirsty
By Mr Ethanol | September 5, 2007
Wall Street Journal:
Mike Clements stood near the railing of a low bridge on a dusty country road and pointed to a clump of green amid the rippling waters of the Republican River.
“There it is,” he said ominously. Anyone else might have seen a reed-like grass swaying in the breeze. But Mr. Clements, head of the Lower Republican Natural Resources District, saw phragmites, a fast-growing invasive species that is slowing the flow of the river and sucking up precious water. The stuff had to go, he said.
Mr. Clements, 55 years old, is the water cop in this dry corner of the Farm Belt and lately, he has had to make every drop count — even if it means whacking weeds.
With ethanol plants moving into his slice of southern Nebraska, he’d love to be able to allow farmers to use all the water they want to satisfy the growing demand for corn. But a big settlement with Kansas over the effects of underground water wells on the Republican River has forced him to put in place some of the toughest water rules in the state. Now, with Kansas complaining that it’s still not getting the water it’s owed, he’s likely to have to tighten the rules even further.
Everywhere farmers grow corn, water is becoming a major concern as ethanol plants ramp up production at a startling rate and the threat of drought is ever-present. Read on.
Photo: Joe Barrett.
Topics: Agriculture, Ethanol, Negatives |
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