The first annual BioMass conference, attended by biofuels researchers, manufacturers, equipment suppliers, and farmers, is underway here at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

Prime on the agenda in the opening session this morning was a question lately blaring from headlines, for instance in a story in today's New York Times: can we grow crops for converting into fuel without catastrophically upsetting the world's food supply?

The AP is reporting that next month the U.S. Geological Survey will stage a controlled flood of the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon via the Glen Canyon Dam in order to learn whether they can approximate the natural conditions of the river.