Increased production of corn for biofuel is leading to an increase in tension among the states who share the vast (and rapidly shrinking) Ogalalla aquifer. Legal battles have been going on for years, but the new crisis brought on by the increased irrigation for the corn to make ethanol is leading to direct Hatfield-McCoy strife between neighbors.
"To be sure, scientists have been watching the depletion of the Ogallala for decades. Years of drought haven't helped either. But the corn-based ethanol boom has added pressure, and money, to keep the tap on. So to save the river and their water, Adamson and a group of surface water-right holders sued in 2005 to shut off the wells. A hearing is set for June. If they win, hundreds, maybe thousands of groundwater wells irrigating corn could be shut off instantly. "It would devastate the economy," says Doug Sanderson, the city manager of Yuma, the county seat."
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