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."
For the love of Pete!
I guess this needs to be pointed out. But there is no free lunch on this planet - everything has a price.
I thought all the wild birds in North America were dining at my place.
I had to refill their feeders AGAIN this morning. Hogs.
Biofuels are a Billy Saul Estes dream come true.
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.
Inwitting stooge that doesn't know he's been brainwashed and has become a useful idiot in the march to contol us all.
Renewable Energy Ping

Please Freep Mail me if you'd like on/off
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.
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.
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.
Bingo, that and the lack of DEMAND from the Environmentalists for Nuclear Power, exposes them for the Luddites that they are.
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.
Luddites:(n) def: from Latin "ludicrous". meaning" the smooth stone that lines a toilet. Sir Issac Crapper was a Luddite advocate!
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.
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.
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