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The environmental and ecological harms of alternative fuels are greater than those of traditional fuels in many cases. In two studies, one by the University of Minnesota, and the other by Princeton University, it was found that biofuels can actually produce more carbon dioxide emissions than they can save. Also, because increases in the land area used to produce feedstocks can result in large releases of carbon from soil and existing biomass, they can negate any benefits of biofuels for decades, making the world's climate problem worse. A research panel at Michigan State University found that more-intensive cultivation of crops for fuel may accelerate soil erosion and damage to wildlife habitats and water quality. They pointed out that one outcome of this could be "an ecological disaster."

Currently, Congress is working to implement legislation that would pump million of taxpayer dollars into efforts to create synthetic gas, develop oil shale, and plans to transform coal into liquid oil. The Sierra Club found that these sources that Congress is pushing for release almost double the harmful emissions as regular gasoline. Such alternative fuels are found to be perhaps the dirtiest, most expensive, and most dangerous sources of fuel, surely hurting our environment.

The same practices of alternative fuel production that would ruin our environment would also ruin the global economy. As reported in Time Magazine, in an article called "The Clean Energy Scam", food prices have been exponentially increased around the world because crops are being used for alternative fuel production. Whereas the price of fuel has netted a substantial decrease in the past couple years, the price of food had a 6 percent inflation rate in 2008. The grain it takes to fill an SUV tank with ethanol to feed a person for an entire year. The UN World Food Program says it now needs an additional $500 million in funding, calling the rising cost of food nothing less than a global emergency.
An expert in the program has even called the production of agricultural alternative fuels "a crime against humanity".
The cost of alternative fuel sources themselves is also something that has been overlooked. As calculated by Popular Mechanics, the cost to power a Honda Civic from New York to California using regular gasoline would cost $212.
However, to power an E-85 car the same distance it would cost more than $200 more. To travel that distance using Methanol, it would cost $619 dollars, over $400 more than

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