Local View: CO2 pipeline safety proven

July 20, 2022

The ethanol industry is vital to Nebraska. Ethanol producers contribute approximately $5 billion to Nebraska’s gross domestic product every year, support 1,300 jobs across the state and purchase more than 40% of all the corn grown by Nebraska farmers.

However, some groups, such as the Sierra Club and Food and Water Watch, have advocated for the elimination of the ethanol industry. For example, in a recent regulatory filing, the Sierra Club noted that, “Sierra Club believes that the use of ethanol serves to extend our reliance on fossil fuels, thus contributing to climate change.”

Food and Water Watch argued in its own regulatory filing that the ethanol industry causes “tremendous harms to biodiversity due to intensive monocultural (corn only) production.”

That’s the wrong approach for Nebraska. If these groups are successful in enacting this vision, it would be devastating to our farmers who count on a vibrant ethanol industry to maintain strong commodity prices and land values.

To read the rest of this article, please visit the original source at the Lincoln Journal Star.