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Highlands Today

Ethanol Production

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Charles Kendall

Published: May 30, 2008

Recent local newspaper articles jubilantly announced preliminary plans for ethanol to be produced by a plant just south of Lake Placid. Articles indicated the ethanol would be produced from sorghum cane that would be grown in southern Highlands County. They directed attention to the jobs that would be created by this program; however, no mention was made of the great amount of water needed to produce at least two crops of this sorghum per year and the four to five gallons of water required to produce each gallon of ethanol.

Large coastal city and commercial crop demands are already contributing heavily to Highlands County water rationing and critically low lake levels. I fear that "big money politics" will likely steamroll the rights and welfare of Highlands County citizens into ethanol production.

Recently, I searched the Internet to learn more about ethanol production, and rapidly found several articles. They discussed problems generated by existing operational plants. These problems included high water consumption, stench from the decomposing products, and pollution of adjacent bodies of water. "The Economist," print edition, Feb. 28, Miami, titled Ethanol and Water Don't Mix stated, "Officials in Tampa, got a surprise recently when a local firm building the state's first ethanol production factory put in a request for 400,000 gallons (1.5 milliliter) a day of city water. The request by U.S. Envirofuels would make the facility one of the city's top 10 water consumers overnight, and the company plans to double its size. Florida is suffering from a prolonged drought. Rivers and lakes are at record lows and residents wonder where the extra water will come from."

Microsoft Network published an article by Associated Press Writer Jim Paul, June 18, 2006. It was titled Biofuel Plants Impact On Aquifers Eyed By Scientist. "Champaign, Ill. - City officials in Champaign and Urbana took notice when they heard that an ethanol plant proposed nearby would use about 2 million gallons of water per day, most likely from the aquifer that also supplies both cities."

This article and others describe how, after a single plant was approved, they were doubled in size and others were rapidly approved. The volume of these operations have created several environmental problems including noxious odors, pollution and draining of aquifers and polluting nearby streams and lakes.

Can Highlands County afford another major drain on our water supply and can it control the potential for water pollution? I don't think so!

Charles Kendall
Lake Placid

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