ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the direct environmental implications of some typical kinds of bioenergy crop production. These environmental effects occur in three places: on the crop site itself, in areas adjacent to the site, and especially—given the importance for regional watersheds of effects like erosion—in downstream locations. An assortment of abatement measures can be taken against stream pollution and other environmental impacts from the bioenergy site. Clearing a site and planting, tending, and harvesting a bioenergy crop produces impacts that may be lasting—or that may be repaired by natural processes as time goes on. One of the biggest impacts of a bioenergy project is the clearing of the site: removal of vegetation, plowing, and application of pesticides or herbicides. Clearing natural vegetation from a site tends to change the structure and nutrient levels in such a way as to decrease soil productivity. Effluents of one kind or another from bioenergy sites cause offsite problems.
