i know this is green heresy, but the perception of green is more important than the disastrous results.
For years, the biofuel industry has sold itself as the planet’s hero – the cleaner, greener alternative to oil and gas. But a new report has exposed a dark secret within the industry: biofuel refineries are spewing toxic chemicals into farm communities all over the United States – and it’s worse than anyone imagined.
A new report from the nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) has allegedly blown the lid off the biofuel industry. The report alleges that these so-called green saviors are actually major polluters – in some cases releasing more toxic chemicals than the oil refineries they were supposed to replace.
The 275 ethanol, biodiesel, and renewable diesel plants in the U.S. are pumping out chemicals that have been linked to long-term cancer, including formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, hexane, and acrolein at huge levels, in “significantly greater amounts (…) than oil refineries.”
These biofuel refineries are having a negative effect on local areas, as Hirschfeld says, “Corn production for ethanol has resulted in so much pollution that Illinois residents are advised not to swim in, eat fish out of, or drink water from streams and rivers across the state.”
Some studies are pointing to biofuels as having actually caused more problems – deforestation and massive carbon emissions, to be specific. One study from 2022 found that corn ethanol’s carbon footprint is around a quarter higher than regular gasoline. Back in 2007, the EPA let corn ethanol plants off the hook from the strict Clean Air Act requirements, letting them pollute twice as much before they needed stricter permits.
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