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Biofuels growth seen posing threat to wild birds
Reuters ^ | Sep 7, 2006 | Reuters

Posted on 09/07/2006 8:54:04 AM PDT by thackney

WESTON-SUPER-MARE (Reuters) - A rapid rise in biofuels production in Europe poses a potential threat to some wild birds, Mark Avery, director of conservation for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, said on Thursday.

Avery noted that the crops used for biofuels production could be grown on land currently designated as "set aside" which had proved an excellent habitat for wild birds.

The European Union, faced with growing surpluses of agricultural commodities, took some land out of production, a move that was "very positive for wildlife," Avery noted.

"It does worry us a bit (that the land may be used to grow crops to make biofuels)," he told a conference organized by the Renewable Energy Association.

Production of biofuels, which are seen as a way of reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, is rising sharply in the EU, leading to increased demand for crops such as oilseeds and grains which are used to make them.

Avery said he was also concerned that production of crops such as palm oil and soybeans could be expanded, possibly at the expense of natural habitats.

"There are some issues about how green you are able to claim your industry is," Avery told conference participants.

Avery said, however, that the biofuels sector was "generally an environmentally positive industry."


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: biofuels; energy; envirowingnuts
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1 posted on 09/07/2006 8:54:04 AM PDT by thackney
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To: thackney
The Environmentalists try a new approach...
2 posted on 09/07/2006 8:55:26 AM PDT by P-40 (Al Qaeda was working in Iraq. They were just undocumented.)
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To: thackney

For the love of Pete!


3 posted on 09/07/2006 8:55:29 AM PDT by vpintheak (Yep.)
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To: thackney

I guess this needs to be pointed out. But there is no free lunch on this planet - everything has a price.


4 posted on 09/07/2006 8:55:33 AM PDT by PC99
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To: thackney

I thought all the wild birds in North America were dining at my place.

I had to refill their feeders AGAIN this morning. Hogs.


5 posted on 09/07/2006 8:56:26 AM PDT by Not A Snowbird (Official RKBA Landscaper and Arborist, Duchess of Green Leafy Things)
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To: thackney

Biofuels are a Billy Saul Estes dream come true.


6 posted on 09/07/2006 8:56:28 AM PDT by em2vn
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To: thackney

Further proof that the Communists that are behind the modern Envirowhacko movement have not the protection of the environment but the destruction of the West in its present form as their main goal.


7 posted on 09/07/2006 8:56:49 AM PDT by steveegg (Let's make the deeply-saddened Head KOmmie deeply soddened in Nov. - deny the 'RATs the election)
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To: steveegg

Bingo.


8 posted on 09/07/2006 8:57:57 AM PDT by Mr. Lucky
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To: thackney
Mark Avery, director of conservation for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, said on Thursday.

Inwitting stooge that doesn't know he's been brainwashed and has become a useful idiot in the march to contol us all.

9 posted on 09/07/2006 9:01:20 AM PDT by subterfuge (If Liberals hated terrorists like they hate Bush the war would be over by now)
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To: thackney; RedStateRocker; Dementon; eraser2005; Calpernia; DTogo; Maelstrom; Yehuda; babble-on; ...
The bird folks have a new target aside from wind energy

Renewable Energy Ping

Please Freep Mail me if you'd like on/off

10 posted on 09/07/2006 9:02:57 AM PDT by Uncledave
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To: P-40

My personal prejudice is that biofuels will destroy the soil through depletion and erosion long before they provide enough fuel to matter. Tar sands, shale, hydrogen, and nuclear generated electricity are the key to long term economic prosperity.


11 posted on 09/07/2006 9:11:14 AM PDT by tickmeister (tickmeister)
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To: tickmeister
My personal prejudice is that biofuels will destroy the soil through depletion and erosion long before they provide enough fuel to matter.

Speaking as someone who farmed for a great many years, I'm not worried about it in the slightest.
12 posted on 09/07/2006 9:16:36 AM PDT by P-40 (Al Qaeda was working in Iraq. They were just undocumented.)
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To: steveegg
the Communists that are behind the modern Envirowhacko movement

But, who is behind the communist movement? Or the former communist movement since it seems to have pretty much dried up and blown away. I submit that it is the exact same people behind the former communist movement and the present envirofascist movement. They are also sort of behind the present islamofascist movement or at least kind of uneasily urging it on. Same people. That's right! Whitewater kayakers.

13 posted on 09/07/2006 9:18:31 AM PDT by RightWhale (Repeal the law of the excluded middle)
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To: tickmeister

Exactly.

I've done some small investing in a company that produces hydrogen fuel cells.

I'm holding the shares long-term and see where they go.


14 posted on 09/07/2006 9:20:47 AM PDT by MplsSteve
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To: steveegg
Further proof that the Communists that are behind the modern Envirowhacko movement have not the protection of the environment but the destruction of the West in its present form as their main goal.

Bingo, that and the lack of DEMAND from the Environmentalists for Nuclear Power, exposes them for the Luddites that they are.

15 posted on 09/07/2006 9:21:03 AM PDT by Paradox (The "smarter" the individual, the greater his power of self-delusion.)
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To: P-40

I'm from the farm myself. If you've got good flat bottom ground, you can push it hard for decades. Problem I see is that a call for a lot more grain will take hill ground out of grass, and that won't last nearly as long. The CRP has allowed farmers to transfer ownership of a lot of marginal land to deer hunters at taxpayer expense, but long term higher grain prices would bring a lot of that back into production.

I know that if you do it right you can put organic matter and nutrients back into the soil, but I'm not sure how many farmers actually do that. Right now they are mostly farming ground where it isn't a problem for a good while.

I may be full of BS, but I am not convinced that biofuels are any more than a passing fad.


16 posted on 09/07/2006 9:55:53 AM PDT by tickmeister (tickmeister)
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To: Paradox

Luddites:(n) def: from Latin "ludicrous". meaning" the smooth stone that lines a toilet. Sir Issac Crapper was a Luddite advocate!


17 posted on 09/07/2006 9:58:28 AM PDT by Young Werther
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To: tickmeister
I know that if you do it right you can put organic matter and nutrients back into the soil

Farmers that want to get into the fuels business will have to make some changes, but I have confidence they will make them okay. Since it is a fuel crop, some of the changes can be rather interesting...like using waste matter from the sewage treatment plants for some highly organic material; needless to say, that has faced opposition. :)
18 posted on 09/07/2006 10:17:56 AM PDT by P-40 (Al Qaeda was working in Iraq. They were just undocumented.)
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To: thackney

This is a Reuters article, do we have confirmation from a reliable news source?

Cheap shot.

It would seem a reasonable compromise would be to let a portion of the land lie fallow every year for the wildlife.


19 posted on 09/07/2006 10:37:39 AM PDT by BJClinton (What happens on Free Republic, stays on Google.)
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To: tickmeister
If corn were the only possible feedstock for distillation, I would agree with you. What made corn so attractive in the production of ethanol is that it's available in surplus, there's a transparent market for it and an adequate infrastructure already exists to grow, store and transport it.

As the market, and technology mature, mature, however, forage crops should become attractive. Perennial forage crops, particularly legumes, not only generate bio-mass, but also sequester carbon in the soil.

20 posted on 09/07/2006 10:37:58 AM PDT by Mr. Lucky
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