How Ethanol Is Making The Farm Belt Thirsty

Mike Clements stood near the railing of a low bridge on a dusty country road and pointed to a clump of green amid the rippling waters of the Republican River.

"There it is," he said ominously. Anyone else might have seen a reed-like grass swaying in the breeze. But Mr. Clements, head of the Lower Republican Natural Resources District, saw phragmites, a fast-growing invasive species that is slowing the flow of the river and sucking up precious water. The stuff had to go, he said.

Jason Berkes

www.jasonberkes.com/ethanol