"Suspend biofuel rules, say MPs"

From today's FT...

Regulations mandating the use of biofuels must be suspended, MPs warned the government on Thursday amid mounting political alarm. Ministers have conceded they may have to rethink biofuels policy because of growing concerns about their effect on food prices and the environment.

The call from the Commons environmental audit committee comes as the industry warned that Britain would have enough surplus wheat production to support only three large ethanol plants, even though several more were being planned.
...
The MPs said the UK had the capacity to produce only 2.5% of transport fuels from plants in an environmentally sound manner. To meet the 5% target would require between 10% and 45% of the arable land, they said.

What strikes me ...

1. Every now and then MPs talk a bit of sense. What's surprising is that it's surprising; we're so used to them talking complete and utter vacuous shit, to the extent that they are not telling outright lies, of course.

2. There's bugger all the government can do about bio-fuels nonsense, as the targets are imposed by the EU. This bit seems to have escaped them.

3. They've left themselves a nice wide margin of error, haven't they? Haven't they bothered working out how much arable land we'd have to turn over? "...between 10% and 45%" looks a bit vague to me. Richard North worked out a year ago that we'd need 70% of our wheat crop to meet a 5% bio-fuel target, so I suspect that whatever the figure is, it's a damn' sight nearer 45% than 10%.

4. If you follow the link (you may have to register, for free) then the grey box headed 'Green saint or sinner' is also well worth a read!

5. Update, see also "Nearly one-third of the US corn harvest is currently being funnelled into biofuel production".