SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A new report shows the Renewable Fuel Standard has had some unintended consequences – leading to the loss of 7 million acres of grassland nationally within the past few years – mostly in and around ethanol refineries as demand grew for corn.

The study showed that in California alone, almost 50,000 acres of non-crop lands have been converted within a hundred miles of the state's nine ethanol plants.

One of the study authors, Ben Larson with the National Wildlife Federation, says the lion's share of the acreage was precious grasslands, which serve as habitat for many species, especially birds.

"The issue of habitat loss driven by biofuels policy needs to be at the center of the debate about reforming the Renewable Fuel Standard," he states.

The standard required that gasoline contain a certain percentage of biofuels, and it specified that the new crops could not be grown on recently converted land.

Nonetheless, Larson notes that the U.S. saw widespread loss of grasslands concentrated around the ethanol plants, a fact that could inform policymakers in the future.

Chris Wright, a landscape ecologist and complex systems analyst with the Natural Resources Research Institute at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, says people need to keep climate change goals in mind even as ethanol production moves away from corn and toward cellulosic ethanol made from grasses and other plants.

"As we move forward with cellulosic ethanol, I think it's going to be important to continue to monitor land use change to guarantee that the results of the policy reduces greenhouse-gas emissions," he states.

Studies have shown that compared with grasslands, corn crops take significantly more water and fertilizer, provide less habitat and absorb less carbon from the air.




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Indiana lawmakers have approved a measure to study ways to use advanced transmission technologies to squeeze more energy from the state's aging electrical grid.

The technology is a suite of hardware and software which can boost the capacity of current transmission lines and perhaps postpone the need for new infrastructure. Backers of the plan said because it is deployed on existing towers, it can reduce cost, modernize without new construction and increase the system's energy capacity.

Sen. Eric Koch, R-Bedford, a co-sponsor of the bipartisan bill, said the state faces an ever-increasing demand for energy.

"We're hearing projections of a single data center using one or maybe even two gigawatts," Koch pointed out. "A gigawatt is about the size of the consumption of residential use in the city of Indianapolis. It is a large amount of electricity being projected to be needed."

Colorado, Maine and Utah are among the states to have already deploying the system and are studying its effectiveness. Senate Bill 422, signed last week by Gov. Mike Braun, was backed by a variety of groups, including AARP Indiana, the Hoosier Environmental Council and The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Current customers and future demand for new technologies drive the need for more energy.

Carter Harms, state campaigns officer for the Pew Charitable Trusts, said the list is growing.

"Increased domestic manufacturing, increased needs from data centers, partially due to artificial intelligence, and then also increased electrification," Harms outlined. "Because of that growing demand, we're seeing strain on the electric grid."

Koch added one of Indiana's power utilities tested the system and obtained positive results.

"We did have the benefit of one of our five investor-owned utilities here in Indiana, AES, pilot a type of ATT called Dynamic Line Ratings," Koch noted. "The results were favorable, and that gave us some confidence that the 'juice is going to be worth the squeeze.'"

Support for this reporting was provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Oregon ranked ninth this year on The State Energy Efficiency Scorecard. The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, a nonprofit research organization, ranked states based on their latest policy developments and efforts to save energy.

This year's scorecard highlighted Oregon's performance standard for large commercial buildings and efforts to upgrade existing buildings.

Jennifer Kalez, communications director for the Oregon Department of Energy, said even though the state's energy demands continue to increase with the population, Oregon's per capita energy consumption is down.

"While we may have more people in our state, we're using less energy per person thanks to efficiency and conservation efforts," Kalez explained.

Oregon also scored points for zero-emission vehicle policies, including EV rebates and emissions standards. Energy Trust of Oregon, a nonprofit helping people save energy by making their homes more efficient, was recognized in the scorecard for promoting equity.

Julianne Thacher, communications and marketing lead for the Energy Trust of Oregon, said they are designing programs to meet the needs of utility households in rural areas, those with low and moderate incomes, communities of color and small businesses.

"For the state to save more energy going forward and meet its climate goals, we need everyone to be able to directly participate in our programs and benefit and lower energy bills," Thacher contended.

The Trump administration has paused key Biden-era funding, including the Inflation Reduction Act, which supports investments in energy efficiency, clean energy and electric vehicle manufacturing. Kalez noted for now, Oregon's federal funding is still available, and federal energy efficiency programs will continue despite the uncertainty.

Appalachian communities in Kentucky are poised to become manufacturing hubs for the wind energy industry, experts say.

The region's workforce, accessible transportation routes, and stash of coal ash deposits -- which contain rare earth metals needed for turbine production -- all point to a role for Appalachia in the industry's supply chain.

Larry Holloway, professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Kentucky, said wind energy is a quickly growing industry in America. He pointed out more than 11% of all power produced in the U.S. comes from wind turbines and the number grows by 2% each year.

"Wind is pretty inexpensive," Holloway explained. "It depends in part on where in the country you are, how much wind you have and so forth, but it is one of the lowest cost energy sources. And in 2024, several months in a row, wind outproduced coal nationally."

According to federal data, the American wind energy industry currently supports more than 120,000 jobs and the number of wind turbine technicians is expected to grow by 60% over the next decade.

Critics have argued wind power comes with expensive production and maintenance costs, and long-term environmental impacts.

Mike Shields, senior economist for ReImagine Appalachia, said to help with the transition to wind-based power, decommissioned coal power plants could be repurposed as manufacturing facilities for parts used in wind turbines.

"We know that wind turbines are major infrastructure and there are a lot of working parts in those," Shields emphasized. "How our communities can participate in that supply chain is really the key thing that we want to take a look at."

While it remains unclear how tariffs will affect the nation's ability to develop more wind turbine parts, Holloway stressed U.S. based manufacturing is strong.

"There are a number of final assembly lines and parts that are already made in the U.S.," Holloway underscored. "We may, in fact, see even more demand in that area coming in the future as well."

According to a 2024 Pew Research Center survey, 33% of Americans think a wind turbine farm would positively affect their local economy, while 9% said wind turbines would hurt it. Another 27% said installing a wind turbine farm would make no difference.