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A new government report says farmers in
the Northern Plains use considerably more water to produce a gallon
of corn ethanol than growers in other parts of the country.


      An ethanol industry group says the Government Accountability
Office report offers little new insight and that most ethanol is
produced from corn that is rain-fed, not irrigated.


      The November study quotes Argonne National Laboratory data
saying farmers in North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas
use, on average, 323.6 gallons of water to produce one gallon of
ethanol from corn.


      The USDA's other two major corn producing regions use between 10
and 17 gallons of water per gallon of ethanol.


      The Renewable Fuels Association's Geoff Cooper says it's
disingenuous to suggest increased ethanol production is somehow
driving irrigated corn acreage.

A new government report says farmers in
the Northern Plains use considerably more water to produce a gallon
of corn ethanol than growers in other parts of the country.


GAO report looks at ethanol's use of water

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