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Climatologist: Biofuel production could lead to dust bowl in Oklahoma By Jaclyn Houghton OKLAHOMA CITY - Ken Crawford fears the push for biofuels could ignite another Dust Bowl in Oklahoma. Crawford is a regents’ professor of meteorology at the University of Oklahoma, the director of the Oklahoma Climatological Survey and the state climatologist. He said climate data indicate that there will be longer warm seasons in the region, meaning more water needed and more water evaporated. He said it is important to plan how to handle increased water usage through biofuel production while combating climate change. “Warming of the climate system is unequivocal,” Crawford said. “There is no doubt the world is warming.” Crawford was among speakers who addressed the issue of biofuels, such as ethanol, on water usage and on cattle producers, at the Oklahoma Biofuels Conference in Oklahoma City on Wednesday. Noel Gollehon doesn’t foresee increased biofuel production impacting national water usage, but the regional and local levels might see things differently. An “increasing trend for irrigated corn for ethanol poses questions on using those water resources,” said Gollehon, acting deputy director of market analysis and outlook with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service. It takes about 2,900 gallons of irrigated water for each corn bushel produced in Oklahoma, he said. “That’s a lot of water,” he said. It takes four times as much water to operate an ethanol plant as it does to irrigate the corn for the plant. There are a lot of factors to look at if creating new irrigation for crops for biofuel production, changing one crop for another, or opening an ethanol plant, Gollehon said. He believes each state needs to find out if the structure is in place to support industry changes without depleting water supplies. Jay Wolf, president of Nebraska Cattlemen, said cattle feeders have mixed feelings about the push for biofuels. Since corn is used to produce ethanol and is also used to feed cattle, producers are seeing high feed prices. “When corn goes up, calf prices go down,” he said. A $1 increase in corn prices lowers the value of a 550-pound calf by 18 percent, or $132 per head, according to Wolf. Ethanol does yield distillers grains that cattle can eat for a cheaper cost. He wants more research conducted on the use of the grains. “Cattlemen understand we need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil,” Wolf said. “ … We support ethanol. We understand it took federal support, state support.” But he wants the market to decide who gets the corn, rather than the government. “The beef industry wants to compete for corn on a level playing field,” Wolf said. The industry has “an outstanding ability to adapt as long as the markets allow it to work.” October 18, 2007
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