Backlash Over Biofuels Builds in Europe

A European Union panel has incited a new round of sturm und drang as it debates the role that biofuels should play in the continent's quest for clean energy. Adding to the high-octane dialog, a report leaked to a British newspaper raises the possibility that the demand for biofuels bears the brunt of responsibility for rising food prices around the world. In a twist that might have seemed unlikely just a couple of years ago, environmentalists and liberal politicians in Europe are turning against the renewable fuel, saying that ethanol derived from corn, sugar cane, and other crops causes more problems than it solves. Previously, the European Union (EU) had p