The U.S. may be hitting its ethanol limit. So EPA wants to relax its biofuels goals.

[Jesus Malverde]

2. Prairies Vanish in the U.S. Push for Green Energy

America's green energy policy is fueling an expansion of the Corn Belt across the Dakotas and Nebraska. The policy requires oil companies to blend billions of gallons of corn ethanol into their gasoline, and farmers are transforming the Great Plains into cornfields. In 2010, fuel became the No. 1 use for corn in America.

Robert Malsam nearly went broke in the 1980s when corn was cheap. So now that prices are high and he can finally make a profit, he's not about to apologize for ripping up prairieland to plant corn.

Across the Dakotas and Nebraska, more than 1 million acres of the Great Plains are giving way to cornfields as farmers transform the wild expanse that once served as the backdrop for American pioneers.

This expansion of the Corn Belt is fueled in part by America's green energy policy, which requires oil companies to blend billions of gallons of corn ethanol into their gasoline. In 2010, fuel became the No. 1 use for corn in America, a title it held in 2011 and 2012 and narrowly lost this year. That helps keep prices high.

"It's not hard to do the math there as to what's profitable to have," Malsam said. "I think an ethanol plant is a farmer's friend."

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