Concerns over potential deforestation resulting from French Guiana biofuel push

In French Guiana, MongaBay reports BiofuelWatch and local environmentalists are concerned about potentially significant environmental damage to the country’s portion of the Amazon rainforest due to plans for soy oil-based bioenergy production to power the Latin American French overseas department. The French government has been investigating for the past two years how to upgrade the department’s aging energy infrastructure with several bioenergy facilities as the key choice. The largest planned facility would require up to 140,000 metric tons of soy annually, representing up to 892 square miles of land in a country with limited arable land and 98% forest cover.