Recent grassland losses are concentrated around U.S. ethanol refineries

Abstract

Although the United States has pursued rapid development of corn ethanol as a matter of national biofuel policy, relatively little is known about this policy's widespread impacts on agricultural land conversion surrounding ethanol refineries. This knowledge gap impedes policy makers' ability to identify and mitigate potentially negative environmental impacts of ethanol production. We assessed changes to the landscape during initial implementation of the Renewable Fuel Standard v2 (RFS2) from 2008 to 2012 and found nearly 4.2 million acres of arable non-cropland converted to crops within 100 miles of refinery locations, including 3.6 million acres of converted grassland. Aggregated across all ethanol refineries, the rate of grassland conversion to cropland increased linearly with proximity to a refinery location. Despite this widespread conversion of the landscape, recent cropland expansion could have made only modest contributions to mandated increases in conventional biofuel capacity required by RFS2. Collectively, these findings demonstrate a shortcoming in the existing 'aggregate compliance' method for enforcing land protections in the RFS2 and suggest an alternative monitoring mechanism would be needed to appropriately capture the scale of observed land use changes.

Climate policy action needed to reduce vulnerability of conservation‐reliant grassland birds in North America

“…Policies that advocate for the expansion of renewable fuels may result in grassland conversion. For example, renewable fuel standards resulted in higher rates of grassland conversion regionally, including 1.5 million ha of converted grasslands within 100 miles of refineries in the Midwestern United States (Wright, Larson, Lark, & Gibbs, ). This occurred in spite of the existence of voluntary programs for grassland conservation in the United States like the Conservation Reserve Program (https://www.fsa.usda.gov/programs-and-services/conservation-programs/conservation-reserve-program/index), the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, and the Crop Production on Native Sod program (https://www.ers.usda.gov/agricultural-act-of-2014-highlights-and-implications/conservation), which have helped stabilize the decline in grassland bird populations (NABCI, ).…”

“…This occurred in spite of the existence of voluntary programs for grassland conservation in the United States like the Conservation Reserve Program (https://www.fsa.usda.gov/programs-and-services/conservation-programs/conservation-reserve-program/index), the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, and the Crop Production on Native Sod program (https://www.ers.usda.gov/agricultural-act-of-2014-highlights-and-implications/conservation), which have helped stabilize the decline in grassland bird populations (NABCI, ). Most present‐day grasslands conversion are lands taken out of CRP (Lark et al, ; Morefield, LeDuc, Clark, & Iovanna, ) highlighting the precarious nature of conservation gains from voluntary programs (Wright et al, ). Programs like the Land and Water Conservation Fund (https://www.doi.gov/lwcf), which distributes federal revenue from oil and gas development to land conservation programs that include acquisitions, easements, and enhancements of grasslands among other habitats, may be more effective at protecting grasslands.…”

Cropping pattern changes diminish agroecosystem services in North and South Dakota, USA

“…Nationwide (Lark et al., ; Wright et al., ) and regional analyses (Lu et al., ; Shao, Taff, Ren, & Campbell, ; Wright & Wimberly, ) identify North and South Dakota as having some of the greatest land use changes in the United States over the last several decades. These types of analyses are improving due to increasing availability of datasets, tools, and new methodology for geospatial analyses.…”

“…A primary driver of this was the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA), which revised the 2005 Renewable Fuels Standard to call for a 900% increase in production of renewable fuels, from 4 billion gallons in 2006 to 36 billion gallons by 2022, with up to 21 billion gallons of advanced biofuels (i.e., noncorn starch based; US Congress, ). Some research suggests that the effects of EISA can be seen with greater cropland conversion occurring in closer proximity to ethanol refineries (Miao, ; Motamed et al., ; Otto et al., ; Wright et al., ), though this relationship may be complicated by indirect effects of increased crop prices due to ethanol expansion (Li, Miao, & Khanna, ).…”

“…The Dakotas are the leading producers of numerous crops, including canola ( Brassica napus L.), dry bean ( Phaseolus spp. ), flax ( Linum usitatissimum L.), sunflower ( Helianthus annus L.), and lentil ( Lens culinaris ; USDA‐NASS, ), and the country is even more reliant on this region for these crops as many other regions shift away from diverse crop rotations (Lark, Salmon, & Gibbs, ; Wright, Larson, Lark, & Gibbs, ). This region is also an important source of domestic honey production, with the Dakotas accounting for nearly one‐third of the national total (USDA‐NASS, ).…”