Global benefits, local burdens? The paradox of governing biofuels productionin Kansas and Iowa

Recent sociological analysis of the expansion of the biofuels industry internationally has noted the paradox between thepurported global environmental benefits of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by replacing fossil fuels with biofuels, andthe potential for distinctly negative environmental impacts experienced at local sites of biofuels production. The state, inboth the USA and the EU, has played a prominent role in promoting the development and expansion of biofuels productionthrough government mandates and incentives, but the state’s role in governing the potentially (negative) economic, social orenvironmental impacts of biofuels production on local communities has been much more limited in scope. We review theenvironmental sociological literature to frame analysis of how the state is governing the benefits and burdens brought by theethanol industry to rural communities in Kansas and Iowa. Drawing on data from community surveys, focus group andindividual interviews and analysis of environmental violations, the paper examines the local impacts of biofuels productionin three case-study communities. Findings suggest that local residents do not express many concerns about environmentalimpacts and that the state has played a modest role in governing the negative local environmental impacts. We argue thatthis lack of concern is related to the histories of these rural communities, which have long depended on resource extractiveindustries and currently are desperate for economic growth. We find that criticisms of negative environmental impacts aremuted in relation to purported economic benefits and to other comparable industries. These community case studiesillustrate some of the challenges, both at the practical and theoretical levels, of governing biofuels production