Potential Impacts of Biofuels Expansion on Natural Resources: A Case Study Of the Ogallal Aquifer Region

Renewable fuels produced with low greenhouse gas emissions are one of our best opportunities to address global warming. However, not all biofuels are created equal. Depending on how the fuel is produced and used, some biofuels have many more environmental impacts than others. To ensure biofuels live up to their environmental promise, policies must differentiate between types of production and focus incentives on more sustainable options.

The Ogallala Aquifer region is one microcosm of the environmental concerns that may accompany rapid and unplanned expansion of biofuels production (see figure 1). The Ogallala Aquifer supports the majority of irrigated agriculture in the southern Great Plains. However, in recent decades it has experienced substantial water table declines in areas where rates of groundwater pumping have far exceeded rates of replacement. The region was also the center of Dust Bowl conditions in the 1930s.