An alternative fuel... with more pollution?

Ironies of ironies, the push to reduce gasoline consumption by using more home-grown ethanol could lead to more pollution in many communities. Just today, the York Dispatch wrote of concerns about the increased farm runoff that is sure to follow the $4-per-bushel craze. That's twice the price paid farmers last year, leading many to till every acre they can. Also today, The Chicago Tribune reported about a small Wisconsin town that doesn't want to live with air pollution from a nearby ethanol plant. They may have good reason, as the story below points out. Pushing President Bush's plan to reduce gasoline consumption 20 percent in 10 years, the Environmental Protection Agency set a new rule that will let ethanol plants operate with fewer air pollution controls.