Airports To Grow Foodstocks For Their Own Biofuels?

The Agriculture Department and the Federal Aviation Administration are teaming up on what could be a novel approach to alternative energy production. A new USDA study found many of the nation's airports could prove to be ideal sites to grow feedstocks for biofuels. The department is especially interested in airports with large areas of grassland on their property. Converting those grasslands to biofuel crops would serve two purposes, according to USDA. It could provide airports with alternative energy that they could use on-site; and it would get rid of the kind of vegetation where birds tend to roost and pose a threat to aircraft. The study was published this week in the journal "Environmental Management."