This morning while watching CNBC during my usual workout routine, I heard a story about how President Obama's "Green Energy" policies had a dark side. The story specifically referred to the renewable fuels standard (or "RFS") requiring that gasoline sold in the US contain a minimum percentage of ethanol. The "secret, dirty cost" supposedly caused by this policy is that acres of prairie and marginal farmland have been tilled up and planted to corn, allegedly increasing water pollution from chemicals and fertilizer.Further digging pointed to the source of this story. The Associated Press ran an article about the hidden costs of the United States' ethanol policy, stating:
