Huron Ethanol Spill: Reminder That Conservation Is Cleanest

Saturday's 6000-gallon ethanol spill at Huron's Heartland Grain Fuels Plant reminds me that no energy solution is perfect. The spill has killed some fish in Broadland Creek (ethanol lowers the oxygen content of the water), and folks shouldn't take a swig from or dip in either the creek or nearby Ravine Lake anytime soon.

However, the environmental impact of this accident doesn't seem as bad as a comparable oil or gasoline spill. Ethanol breaks down naturally. When six DM&E tanker cars derailed and spilled 30,000 gallons of ethanol near Cambria, Minnesota (between New Ulm and Mankato), the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency decided they didn't need to clean it up. They considered excavating or at least aereating the soil to help the ethanol evaporate faster, but they figured disturbing the soil would do more damage to the organic material there than the ethanol itself [see Tim Krohn, "Ethanol Spill Decision: No Cleanup Required," Mankato Free Press, 2006.12.08].

Biodiesel also appears to pose less danger to the environment when spilled than petro-diesel. One gentleman I read this morning says biodiesel is "less toxic than table salt, more biodegradable than sugar."

Of course, even if we never spilled a drop, the mere production of biofuels may turn out to do more harm than oil in the emissions and other externalities that come from producing them: remember, all that fertilizer is made from oil.

Energy never comes for free. No matter what techno-whiz-bangery we come up with to fuel our cars and our economy, there will be some kind of mess. If we're serious about keeping the planet livable, we will need to stop looking for more things to consume and resolve to simply consume less.

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Update 08:40 CDT: More trade-offs: I figure cellulosic ethanol from switchgrass and other non-food biomass would make a great improvement over pouring corn into our gas tanks. But then the New York Times reports concerns that such "second-generation biofuels" may create more problems with invasive plant species -- i.e., weeds that spread from the biofuel plantations and still crowd out food crops.