Ethanol is bad for the economy, consumers
and the environment. The economic impact of ethanol subsidies is negative. One report by the
U.S. Agriculture department determined that every dollar spent subsidizing ethanol costs consumers more than
four dollars.
Big Corn
and the Ethanol Hoax: Ethanol contains water that distillation cannot remove. As such, it
can cause major damage to automobile engines not specifically designed to burn ethanol. The water
content of ethanol also risks pipeline corrosion and thus must be shipped by truck, rail car or barge.
These shipping methods are far more expensive than pipelines. Ethanol is 20 to 30 percent less
efficient than gasoline, making it more expensive per highway mile. It takes 450 pounds of corn to
produce the ethanol to fill one SUV tank. That's enough corn to feed one person for a year.
Dreams From My
Farmer. In 2008, ethanol's ravages started to make headlines — this "green fuel" was
contributing to record-high food prices and causing food riots in the developing world. It was exhausting
water supplies, driving up gasoline prices, and exacerbating smog. Environmentalists, who almost universally
oppose ethanol, even complained that its production process is driving up emissions from coal. … More
importantly, ethanol makes no substantive contribution to American energy independence.
Texas Is Fed Up
With Corn Ethanol. At what price will corn be so expensive that the federal government will
decide that it is time to stop driving up the price of food? … As we can see now, the diversion of our
corn supply from grocery stores to gasoline pumps has caused the price of corn to spiral out of control.
Corn prices were once driven by market forces. Today they are artificially driven up by a government
mandate.
Platform
Committee: No Ethanol Mandates. The last sentence in the economy section of the working
draft of the Republican platform states, "The U.S. government should end mandates for ethanol and let the
free market work."
E.P.A.
Won't Ease Ethanol Requirements in Gas. The Environmental Protection Agency rejected on Thursday
[8/7/2008] a request to cut the quota for the use of ethanol in cars, concluding, for the time being, that the
goal of reducing the nation's reliance on oil trumps any effect on food prices from making fuel from corn.
The E.P.A. administrator, Stephen L. Johnson, said that the mandate was "strengthening our nation's energy
security and supporting American farming communities," and that it was not causing "severe harm to the economy
or the environment."
Molson Coors
ethanol fueling DNC. Molson Coors may be a small player in the ethanol world, but at the Democratic
National Convention, it may as well be ExxonMobil. All of the estimated 40,000 gallons of ethanol being used
in DNC alternative fuel vehicles is coming from the brewer's unique ethanol distillery.
No Excuses For Not Drilling.
[Scroll down slowly] Why act so rashly in support of ethanol subsidies? Why, for more votes, of
course. Engineers knew years ago that it takes more energy to make ethanol than what we get out of
it. While people are starving in the world, it is immoral, unethical and obscene to make fuel to
sustain our precious standard of living with food that the world so desperately needs.
Which costs more, ethanol or gasoline? With
oil topping $135 a barrel, ethanol must be cheaper than gasoline, right? Not if you adjust for the
fact that ethanol has about 30% less energy content than gasoline by volume.
Seeding
the food crisis: As if a housing crisis, rising energy costs and a soft labor market weren't
enough to cause economic anxiety for the average American, now consumers are feeling the pinch of rapidly
escalating food costs. The United States has long prided itself in being the breadbasket of the world,
and Americans have traditionally paid a smaller share of their income on food than citizens of other developed
countries. But the days of cheap milk, bread, beef and poultry may well be over — and Uncle Sam
is partly to blame.
Let Them Eat Ethanol? They
don't have enough to eat. Five people are dead in Port Au Prince, Haiti after a week of food riots. Unions in
Burkina Faso have called a general strike to protest the high cost of grain. Food riots have rocked Egypt, Cameroon,
Indonesia, Ethiopia and other nations. In Manila, police with M-16s have supervised the sale and distribution of
subsidized grain. Hoarders have been threatened with life imprisonment. In Thailand and Pakistan, troops are
guarding fields and warehouses. In Egypt, the army has been called out to bake bread. Even in the United States,
a run on rice has caused big-box retailers Sam's Club and Costco to limit the amount of rice consumers can purchase per
visit….
Governor Rick Perry's request
to waive the federal ethanol mandate. "It takes 21 pounds of corn to produce one gallon of
ethanol. One person could be fed for an entire year from the corn that we're instead cooking for a single
pickup tank of E-85. "This year, the United States will convert 30 to 35 percent of its corn
harvest into ethanol. Federal mandates and subsidies for ethanol production are generating a supply
that will be far beyond what the United States is able to use.
Uprising Against
the Ethanol Mandate. Gov. Rick Perry of Texas is asking the Environmental Protection Agency to
temporarily waive regulations requiring the oil industry to blend ever-increasing amounts of ethanol into
gasoline. A decision is expected in the next few weeks. Mr. Perry says the billions of
bushels of corn being used to produce all that mandated ethanol would be better suited as livestock feed
than as fuel.
Food Crisis Starts Eclipsing Climate Change Worries.
With prices for rice, wheat, and corn soaring, food-related unrest has broken out in places such as Haiti, Indonesia, and
Afghanistan. Several countries have blocked the export of grain. There is even talk that governments could fall
if they cannot bring food costs down. One factor being blamed for the price hikes is the use of government subsidies to
promote the use of corn for ethanol production. An estimated 30% of America's corn crop now goes to fuel, not food.
Children of the Corn:
[Scroll down] Suppose, though, that ethanol is harmless to Third World food supply: It still costs
us plenty. The federal government has mandated that we use 9 billion gallons of it this year and
15 billion gallons by 2022. This forces people to use an inferior fuel, one costlier to make, to
ship, to run a car a mile on. Besides the up-ratcheting mandate, taxpayers must fund several tax credits,
the big one being about 51 cents a gallon to companies that mix the stuff into gasoline. This
cost about $2.5 billion in 2006.
Which costs more, ethanol or gasoline? With oil
topping $135 a barrel, ethanol must be cheaper than gasoline, right? Not if you adjust for the fact that
ethanol has about 30% less energy content than gasoline by volume. The American Automobile Association
monitors daily average national prices for gasoline and E-85, motor fuel blended with 85% ethanol and
15% gasoline. When the ethanol fuel-economy penalty is taken into account, E-85 cost $4.704 a
gallon….
Does federal ethanol policy subsidize oil consumption?
Far more corn grown in this country is now going toward fuel production, not food consumption, causing food prices to
escalate around the world. … What is left out of the debate is a significant contradiction in current biofuel
policy: tax credits subsidize petroleum-based gasoline consumption when used in conjunction with mandates.
Cellulosic ethanol — unintended consequences?
Greens were once keen on corn-ethanol and bio-diesel, but now many condemn these so-called first-generation biofuels
for contributing to deforestation, water pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions. Will their love affair with
cellulosic ethanol similarly grow cold?
Palm oil prices climbing faster than petroleum prices.
Plans to invest billions of dollars in biodiesel refineries across Southeast Asia have been put on hold as the prices
of key raw ingredients — particularly palm oil — have shot up amid surging food demand in
China and India.
Eat Your Fill of Beef Before Ethanol Prices it Out of Your
Budget. The Daily Livestock Report published by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange on Tuesday [5/20/2008]
noted troubling evidence of cattle herd liquidation. The report's author's, livestock economists Steve Meyer
and Len Steiner noted an increased pace of cattle slaughter this year amid steadily climbing feed costs.
Perry sees harm of ethanol.
Gov. Rick Perry stepped up his call Tuesday [6/24/2008] for a reduction in federal ethanol requirements, saying
they are putting "artificial upward pressure on corn prices," choking the life out of the state's $75 billion
livestock industry and increasing food prices for U.S. families.
Mechanics see ethanol damaging small engines.
Although the Web is rife with complaints from car owners who say ethanol damaged their engines, ethanol producers
and automakers say it's safe to use in cars. But smaller engines — the two-cycle utility engines
in lawnmowers, chain saws and outboard boat motors — are another story. Benjamin Mallisham,
owner of a lawnmower repair shop in Tuscaloosa, Ala., said at least 40 percent of the lawnmower engines
he repairs these days have been damaged by ethanol.
Minnesota
rides ethanol roller coaster. The recent flooding in Iowa is just the latest in a series of forces
shoving ethanol's main ingredient — corn — to record high prices that have squeezed if not
erased industry profits. It's quashed the ethanol boom of two years ago and left the industry in shambles,
with operators postponing building of plants, and even delaying indefinitely the start-up of plants that have
recently been completed.
Still
no ethanol production in Hawaii. More than two years after the state began requiring gasoline to be blended
with ethanol, Hawaii has yet to see local production of the fuel. … Ethanol proponents in Hawaii had projected local
production would begin by 2006, but so far no facilities have even broken ground.
Corn on the Mob: Indonesia is a land in turmoil,
home to massive volcanoes, tsunamis, and earthquakes. On Monday, January 14, it experienced a brand new type of
disturbance, the world's first food riot caused by another nation pandering to the global warming mob. Indonesians
took to the streets, demanding that their government to do something about the price of soybeans, a dietary staple.
All over the world, food prices are on the rise.
Will We
Suffer Global Famine, Again? Do today's soaring food prices and Third World food riots mean we're headed for
global famine? Not any time soon — if we suspend the biofuels mandates quickly. Unfortunately, if we
keep burning corn, wheat, and palm oil in our vehicles, there's no limit to the hunger, malnutrition, wildlife extinction
and political disruption we can cause. The problem is simple: Food demand is inelastic. People need about the
same number of calories whether they're expensive or cheap. But the demand for biofuels is almost without limit.
Amber Waves Of Pain: Senate
Republicans want to freeze ethanol mandates that don't cut the price of fuel or help the environment. Even farm-state
Democrats worry about the unintended consequences of putting corn in our cars.
Inconvenient truth: people will go hungry.
Heavy government subsidies for ethanol have steadily increased in the United States, diverting corn crops into the
production of fuel rather than being used as a food source for humans and animals — from cattle to
chickens. Consequently the cost of food products related to corn has skyrocketed.
The fallout from our ethanol
blunder: Congress mandated the addition of ethanol to gasoline and provided large subsidies to encourage
this. This was supposed to reduce carbon emissions and reduce dependence on foreign oil. It has not only failed
in its primary objectives, but is contributing to the threat of massive starvation around the world.
Dems 'Oil' Wet About
Gas Prices. Have you noticed that ever since the Democrats took control of Congress, oil and gas prices have
been going through the roof? The Dems won control of the House and Senate last year in part on the notion that sinking
billions of taxpayer dollars into corn-based ethanol would combat global warming; itself a dubious superstition that some
scientists say is part of the Earth's natural environmental changes over many eons.
The
Biofuels Backlash: Imagine our great, pleasant surprise to see that the world is suddenly
awakening to the folly of subsidized biofuels. All it took was a mere global "food crisis." Last
week chief economist Joseph Glauber of the USDA, which has been among Big Ethanol's best friends in Washington,
blamed biofuels for increasing prices on corn and soybeans.
Biofuel backlash: High prices,
pollution worries hit consumers. In the last year, the promise of renewable fuels has lost a lot of its luster.
Prices of biodiesel have almost doubled to about $6 per gallon, and many experts blame biofuel production for driving up
food prices worldwide. Prominent scientists have questioned whether growing crops for biofuels produces more greenhouse
gases than it prevents.
Wreaking Havoc on Global Economies. Policies
designed to deal with global warming or climate change, such as the biofuels debacle, are wreaking havoc with global
economies and poor peoples' lives. Sadly, none of these policies were necessary. They all emanate from the
incorrect idea that global warming and climate change are due to CO2.
Doubts grow over
ethanol. Sharply rising food prices may force Congress to reconsider the fivefold increase in
ethanol production it mandated just four months ago, some lawmakers say. Few members appear willing to
call for the outright repeal of the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS), which requires that 36 billion gallons
of ethanol be produced by 2022. Of that, 15 billon gallons would come from corn. But the new
concerns represent a significant turn for a policy issue that was embraced by both congressional Democrats and
President Bush as a way to boost rural economies and domestic energy security.
Siphoning Off
Corn to Fuel Our Cars. Across the country, ethanol plants are swallowing more and more of the
nation's corn crop. This year, about a quarter of U.S. corn will go to feeding ethanol plants instead
of poultry or livestock.
Ethanol Fuel from Corn Faulted as 'Unsustainable Subsidized
Food Burning'. As many as three distillation steps are needed to separate the 8 percent
ethanol from the 92 percent water. Additional treatment and energy are required to produce the
99.8 percent pure ethanol for mixing with gasoline. Adding up the energy costs of corn production
and its conversion to ethanol, 131,000 BTUs are needed to make 1 gallon of ethanol. One gallon of
ethanol has an energy value of only 77,000 BTU.
Opposing viewpoint:
Ethanol as cause of
food crisis 'flat-out wrong'. Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer yesterday [5/9/2008] said U.N. and other
international aid officials are "flat-out wrong" to call U.S. ethanol production from corn a major factor in world food
shortages and riots. Mr. Schafer, a longtime proponent of biofuels, vehemently disputed efforts by the leaders
of the World Bank and the U.N. World Food Program to blame ethanol for rising world food prices. He said his
department calculates that competition between food and biofuels accounts only for up to 3 percent of food price
increases. "Only a very small portion of this problem is ethanol driven," Mr. Schafer said in an interview with
The Washington Times. Global food prices have risen 45 percent since mid-2007.
Ethanol
and Biodiesel: The Great Water Wasters. Jan F. Kreider from University of Colorado
and engeneer Peter S. Curtiss have found that the production of one gallon of corn based ethanol requires
170 gallons of water from growing it to converting it into ethanol and cellulosic ethanol requires
146 gallons of water. Much worse is soybean based biodiesel, which requires 900 gallons of
water per gallon of biodiesel. In comparison, one gallon of regular gasoline requires only 5 gallons
of water. Actually, the most water efficient fuel has been shown to be natural gas.
How many gallons of water does it take to make one gallon of ethanol?
3
3.7
4
4.2
3.5 to 6.0
Feeling blue over trying to be
green: Two papers, in the journal Science, rocked the biofuels world by claiming that plant-based fuels cause
more greenhouse-gas emissions than dirty, evil old oil. The reason is that it takes land to grow fuel. That
inevitably leads to the destruction of forests and grasslands, the studies say.
Farmers' choice about
corn key to consumers. As spring planting nears, farmers are making a choice that could affect what
Americans pay for everything from car fuel to chicken wings. If they choose to plant as much corn as possible,
prices that have soared to record highs above $5 a bushel could stabilize. But if many farmers rotate their
plantings to other crops such as soybeans, or the season is disrupted by bad weather or drought, the price of this
key ingredient could soar even further.
Cool, wet spring dampening corn crop hopes. In
a year of rising food prices and high fuel costs that are creating pressure to produce more ethanol, the country
could really use a perfect corn crop. So far, it isn't happening. And depending on the right mix of
sun, heat, rain and cool, it could drive prices up even further.
Just to be fair...
Two dissenting opinions
The Hunger: The
Post article asserts that corn prices have "been climbing for months on the back of booming government-subsidized
ethanol programs." This has quickly become the conventional wisdom. But while free market types
(like me) are skeptical about both subsidies and tariffs, there is actually no evidence that these market
manipulations have been a major factor behind rising prices for corn or other grains.
The Bum Rap on Biofuels:
Now I'd like to break my silence and weigh in. I realize that some readers will dismiss everything I'm
about to say because I have a financial interest in biofuels. I'm hoping that at least some readers will
consider the possibility that — precisely because I have a financial interest in biofuels — I
keep an eye on this issue and may, perhaps, actually know what I'm talking about.
Ethanol is a waste of energy. No need for
debate. No need to heed the market. No need to explore viability or consequences. Executive
orders will do the trick. It seems elected officials need only insert dreamy words like "green" or
"renewable" into a sentence and the electorate swoons.
Ethanol's
Failed Promise: It is now abundantly clear that food-to-fuel mandates are leading to increased
environmental damage. First, producing ethanol requires huge amounts of energy — most of which
comes from coal. Second, the production process creates a number of hazardous byproducts, and some
production facilities are reportedly dumping these in local water sources.
Ethanol betraying
its promises. It is now beyond dispute that congressional mandates on ethanol use are having a number of
deleterious effects, soaring food prices chief among them. So given that, plus recent findings that greenhouse gas
emissions from ethanol and biofuels may actually be greater than those created by conventional gasoline, a natural question
arises: Which presidential candidate will first call for a change in U.S. ethanol policy?
The Editor says...
Here's a better question: Why can't the current president admit his mistake and scuttle the ethanol
subsidies?
Undoing America's Ethanol Mistake.
The Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman once said, "One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by
their intentions rather than their results." When Congress passed legislation to greatly expand America's commitment
to biofuels, it intended to create energy independence and protect the environment. But the results have been quite
different. America remains equally dependent on foreign sources of energy, and new evidence suggests that ethanol is
causing great harm to the environment.
Environmental Activist Failures Highlight Earth
Day. The Earth Day propaganda machine will be in full swing today with alarmist stories of humans
destroying the environment. By virtually every measure — including air quality, water quality,
forest health, etc. — environmental health in the U.S. continues to improve each year. Just as
strikingly, science has demonstrated that the environmental activist groups' so-called "solutions" to
environmental problems often serve only to worsen the environment.
Food Riots Made in
the USA. In order to understand the steep rise in world food prices that set off food riots in
Haiti last week and toppled the government, you need to travel to Iowa. Right now, we're trying to run
our cars on corn ethanol instead of gasoline. As a result, we suddenly find ourselves taking food out of
the mouths of children in developing nations. That may sound harsh, but it also happens to be true.
Ethanol And Hunger: In America,
the federal government pushes the production of ethanol from corn with a rich mix of tax incentives and protectionism.
Refiners get a 51-cent tax credit for every gallon of ethanol they produce and are shielded from cheaper imported ethanol
with a 54-cent-a-gallon tariff. The result, totally by design, is that a huge swath of the U.S. corn crop that would
otherwise go to food for people and animals is diverted to ethanol.
Rush to biofuels leaves a world of emptier plates.
In early 2007, two University of Minnesota economists forecast that biofuels would sharply increase food prices by 2020, leading
to a steep rise in the number of empty bellies in the world. How wrong they were. Soaring rates of hunger didn't take a
generation. It took a year.
Hungry Like the
Ethanol Wolf. The federal government can do something right now to provide relief to Americans
facing higher food prices: Repeal the ethanol mandate. The diversion of one-third of the American
corn crop into ethanol production is a direct result of the 2005 law that required gasoline makers to buy
7.5 billion gallons of ethanol — a mandate that the 2007 energy bill President Bush signed
in December increases to 36 billion gallons by 2022.
Biofuels Meltdown. Last week
two studies published in Science announced what anyone might have suspected all along. … The two
studies may finally puncture the myth that anything is to be gained from burning crops for fuel. From
the very beginning, there was never any indication that turning corn into ethanol was improving our energy
independence. As that effort faltered, the myth arose that at least it was reducing carbon emissions.
Now it has been shown to do neither.
Ethanol: How the promise dwindled.
The cash crunch at Sacramento's Pacific Ethanol Inc. spotlights the swift decline of an industry battered by
too much supply, too-expensive corn and too many increases in plant construction costs. Ethanol -- hailed
by some as a "green" fuel that would reduce America's dependence on foreign oil -- is in a major slump here
and nationwide. Across California, profit margins are vanishing, new plants are being canceled
and some existing facilities are struggling.
How
Al Gore Fostered Famine, Food Riots, and Rising Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Ethanol subsidies have
led to hunger and food riots across the world, by diverting critical farmland from food production to fuel
production. While in the Senate, Al Gore, working with fat-cat lobbyists, "saved the ethanol" industry
by pushing through big taxpayer subsidies for ethanol. Artificially-high worldwide production of ethanol
now threatens to destroy many forests.
Bio-Foolishness:
Poverty, famine and violence are among the supposed products of global warming in the future. Yet these calamities are
with us today thanks to a key element of "green" policy, biofuels. This feel-good measure is becoming a real-world
disaster. The prices of wheat and rice this year will have doubled since 2004, according to World Bank projections.
Soybeans, sugar, soybean oil and corn are expected to be 56% to 79% costlier than in 2004. The bulk of the increases
have come in the past year and can be attributed to the West's push to turn these crops into fossil-fuel replacements like
ethanol.
No Starvation for Fuel!
"No Blood for Oil" is a spurious rallying cry on the left, but apparently it is acceptable for the poor in the third world
to starve so that American Eco-activists can feel self-righteous about driving "flex-fuel" vehicles.
Biofuels under fire at
International Energy Forum. Biofuels, once seen as a key factor in curbing greenhouse gas
emissions, are behind the current global food crisis, major oil producers and consumers charged at an
energy forum here on Monday [4/21/2008].
Starving The Poor By Pandering
To Big Ag. This is not a negation of the energy crisis and the need for alternative fuels.
Nor is it some silly pooh-poohing of pollution and all its ugly brood. What I take it to be is an appeal
for sanity, for common sense, for adult judgment and choices among difficult potential solutions.
The Case
for Ending Ethanol Subsidies: Using ethanol for energy was supposed to be a win-win
situation: the United States has so much corn, we were told, that it could use some to make gasoline,
thereby reducing its GHG emissions and also reducing its dependence on foreign oil. But in the real
world, unintended consequences are all too frequent. Take the linkage between ethanol and GHG emissions.
Scientists now believe that the production of ethanol actually creates more harmful emissions than it prevents.
Food or biofuel? Dumb question.
The world is learning that there are consequences to an American determination to develop "alternative" energy. But Americans
feel good about ethanol, right? So good that ethanol production has been subsidized to the point where corn for energy
has become more profitable than corn for food. Of course, that means less corn being sold for human consumption.
And fields that have long produced other crops, such as wheat, are being converted to producing corn for biofuel use, further
restricting food supplies.
W Goes Green? Apparently, the
president is considering how to push forward his "20-in-10" plan to reduce US consumption of foreign oil by
20% in 10 years. So far that has meant a massive increase in the biofuel requirements, principally
ethanol (mostly derived from corn, soy and palm oils). Where these mandates go, plows and chainsaws
follow. So do deadly food riots and increasing unrest.
Global warming
rage lets global hunger grow. The UN says it takes 232kg of corn to fill a 50-litre car tank
with ethanol. That is enough to feed a child for a year. Last week, the UN predicted "massacres"
unless the biofuel policy is halted.
Ethanol: More harm than good?
Research by Minnesota scientists is challenging the underpinnings of the biofuel rush. Ethanol and
similar products may do more harm than good because of the changes they bring to the landscape, some scientists
say.
Biofuels
Are Bad for Feeding People and Combating Climate Change. Converting corn to
ethanol in Iowa not only leads to clearing more of the Amazonian rainforest, researchers
report in a pair of new studies in Science, but also would do little to slow global
warming — and often make it worse. "Prior analyses made an accounting error," says one
study's lead author, Tim Searchinger, an agricultural expert at Princeton University.
"There is a huge imbalance between the carbon lost by plowing up a hectare [2.47 acres]
of forest or grassland from the benefit you get from biofuels."
Advisory Panel to EU Environment Agency: Suspend the
biofuel directive. Europe's well-meaning rush to biofuels, the scientists concluded, had
produced a slew of harmful ripple effects — from deforestation in Southeast Asia to higher
prices for grains. In a recommendation released last weekend, the 20-member panel, made up of some of
Europe's most distinguished climate scientists, called the 10 percent target "overambitious" and an
"experiment" whose "unintended effects are difficult to predict and difficult to control."
Scientists Ask EU to Drop Biofuel Targets. As
part of a battery of measures officially aimed at addressing climate change, the EU's governments agreed in
2006 that 10 percent of the bloc's transport needs should derive from agricultural crops by 2020.
In a new paper, the European Environment Agency's scientific committee describes the goal as "overambitious" and
recommends it should be suspended until a comprehensive study on the pros and cons of biofuels is completed.
Midwest floods
send corn prices soaring past $8 a bushel. Corn prices surged to a record Monday, with some
contracts briefly topping $8 a bushel for the first time as traders bet that a major swath of this year's
corn crop will be lost to Midwest flooding.
Cattle Farmers Pay Price for Ethanol
Boom. Record-high grain prices have been an economic boon for some Midwest farmers, but they're
causing headaches in the cattle and beef-packing industries. The higher cost of feed grain —
which is driven by the growing demand for ethanol — is squeezing many small feedlots.
World Bank Chief: Biofuels
Boosting Food Prices. Demand for ethanol and other biofuels is a "significant contributor" to
soaring food prices around the world, World Bank President Robert Zoellick says. Droughts, financial
market speculators and increased demand for food have also helped create "a perfect storm" that has boosted
those prices, he says.
The only factor in food inflation governments can
control. Food prices worldwide have risen dramatically in the past few years, due in part to a
similarly dramatic rise in the amount of corn used for ethanol production in the United States. Now, in
an effort to make food less expensive, experts are calling for limits on ethanol production, subsidies for
corn, and more incentives for biofuels made from nonfood sources.
Archer Daniels Meltdown. You
may have read about the high energy inputs necessary to squeeze corn and other materials and brew the mash into
alcohol for biofuels; that it takes more energy to make the stuff than you end up with; and that the energy it
takes to make it is mostly generated by burning petroleum. And you've probably heard about the way
increasing demand for alcohol fuels like E85 is driving up the cost of food.
Obama's Corn Fake:
Barack Obama says he represents change. He also criticizes John McCain for trying to drill our way to
energy independence to add to the profits of Big Oil. But it's Obama who's playing politics by trying to
plant our way to energy independence, buying votes with alternative fuel subsidies that benefit ethanol
producers such as Archer Daniels Midland.
Media Revelation: Ethanol is
Causing Inflation. Finally, the media are connecting the dots and realizing the push for alternative
energy is taking a toll on the American economy. The Labor Department reported on February 20 that the
Consumer Price Index (CPI), a key inflation reading, rose 0.4 percent in January, matching December's rise.
One of the culprits behind the spike — increased food costs because corn is being used for ethanol.
Food
Riots Spread in Haiti, and Across the World, Fueled by Ethanol Mandates. Food riots are occurring
across the world as the world's breadbaskets shift from producing food to producing ethanol, making food scarcer
and more expensive. Ethanol subsidies and mandates encourage this, even though ethanol production causes
an enormous amount of environmental damage, deforestation, and soil erosion, does not reduce net greenhouse gas
emissions, and causes inflation.
Dueling demands for corn. Ask John
Van Pelt his thoughts on ethanol, and he's likely to pull out his adding machine and let the numbers speak for themselves.
Van Pelt, the manager of a cattle feedlot in this town 50 miles south of Amarillo, is now paying $215 a ton for cattle
feed — double what he spent just three years ago. With 20,000 cattle in his yard, that works out to about
$25,000 per day, just in feed, and what could become several million dollars in added costs this year.
Skyrocketing
corn prices hit ethanol profits. The continuing surge in the price of corn, which is punishing
households with higher food prices, is cutting the profits of American ethanol producers and playing havoc
with an industry that was blamed for causing the grain shortage. The price of a bushel of corn soared
above $6 on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange last week, pushed higher by news that American farmers were
planting less corn.
Food Crisis: The Maze Behind Maize.
I enjoy baking, and "scratch" cornbread is my favorite kitchen oeuvre. I use stone-ground corn meal, and
the product is gluten-free — nix on the cup of wheat flour you'll find in many recipes. My cornbread hobby
isn't the only reason I watch the price of corn. Gauging Mexican political stability is another. Corn
(maize, as the Mexicans correctly call it) feeds Mexico. When corn prices rise, Mexico's poor must spend
more to buy their staple.
Study warns of
health risk from ethanol. If ethanol ever gains widespread use as a clean alternative fuel to
gasoline, people with respiratory illnesses may be in trouble. A new study out of Stanford says
pollution from ethanol could end up creating a worse health hazard than gasoline, especially for people
with asthma and other respiratory diseases.
The Ethanol Fallacy.
The idea is so appealing: We can reduce our dependence on oil — stop sending U.S. dollars to corrupt
petro-dictators, stop spewing megatons of carbon into the atmosphere — by replacing it with clean,
home-grown, all-American corn. It sounds too good to be true. Sadly, it is. … Our nation could
wind up with the worst of both worlds: an "alternative" energy that is enormously expensive yet barely
saves a gallon of oil.
Ethanol
Subsidies: A "Scam" That Causes Starvation. [Paul] Krugman, a liberal economist and critic
of the Bush Administration, has long advocated government regulations and incentives to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions. But it is apparent even to him that ethanol subsidies are a destructive waste of money that
will not reduce climate change.
Five
Myths About Going It Alone on Energy: The commercial viability of cellulosic ethanol is like the
Tooth Fairy: Many believe in it, but no one ever actually sees it. After all, even with heavy
federal subsidies, it took 13 years before the corn-ethanol sector was able to produce 1 billion
gallons of fuel per year. Two and a half decades elapsed before annual corn-ethanol production reached
5 billion gallons, as it did in 2006. But now Congress is demanding that the cellulosic-ethanol
business magically produce many times that volume of fuel in just 15 years. It's not going to happen.
Ethanol
Mandates Could Drive Up Food Prices, Enviros Say. Environmental groups are
backing away from federal biofuel and ethanol mandates. While renewable fuel sources may
reduce greenhouse gas emissions they also could raise food costs and cause shortages, critics
say. "We are witnessing the beginning of one of the great tragedies of history," Lester
Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute, said in a statement. "The United States,
in a misguided effort to reduce its oil insecurity by converting grain into fuel for cars, is
generating global food insecurity on a scale never seen before."
Study: Biofuels May Disperse More Greenhouse
Gases Than Oil. Corn-derived renewable energy sources create more greenhouse gases than fossil fuels,
according to a study from an international team of scientists reported in the London Times.
Rapeseed biofuel 'produces more
greenhouse gas than oil or petrol'. Rapeseed and maize biodiesels were calculated to produce up to
70 percent and 50 percent more greenhouse gases respectively than fossil fuels. The concerns were
raised over the levels of emissions of nitrous oxide, which is 296 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas
than carbon dioxide. Scientists found that the use of biofuels released twice as much as nitrous oxide as
previously realised.
Studies
Say Biofuels May Increase Global Warming. Biofuels may do more harm than good in
the drive against "global warming," according to two new European studies. Most biofuels
cause more environmental damage than ordinary gasoline, according to a paper released this
month by a team of scientists led by Nobel Prize winner Paul Crutzen.
Nitrous Oxide. [Scroll
down] Crutzen et al. (2007) … calculated the amount of N2O that would be released to the atmosphere as a result
of using nitrogen fertilizer to grow crops to be converted to biofuels. As they describe it, "all past studies
have severely underestimated the release rates of N2O to the atmosphere, with great potential impact on climate
warming," and they found that when the extra N2O emission from biofuel production is properly calculated, "the
outcome is that the production of commonly used biofuels, such as biodiesel from rapeseed and bioethanol from corn
(maize), can contribute as much or more to global warming by N2O emissions than cooling by fossil fuel savings."
Greenhouse Affect: The
ink is still moist on Capitol Hill's latest energy bill and, as if on cue, a scientific avalanche is demolishing
its assumptions. To wit, trendy climate-change policies like ethanol and other biofuels are actually
worse for the environment than fossil fuels. Then again, Washington's energy neuroses are more
political than practical, so it's easy for the Solons and greens to ignore what would usually be called
evidence.
Biofuels 'do
more harm than good'. Controversial plans to make cars greener by using fuel made from crops
and animal fat will be thrown into doubt this week when MPs are expected to question whether they will do
more harm than good. Biofuels have been hailed as a green alternative to oil by some, but in the US,
where there are massive plants converting maize (corn), it has been criticised for making food more expensive
and being environmentally unfriendly.
Is Ethanol a Real
Solution to Our Energy Woes? The argument goes something like this — we have a lot of
corn and if we turn it into fuel (ethanol), we won't need to import so much foreign oil. But is this a
realistic solution? Will it significantly reduce our dependence on foreign oil? Does it make sense
for government (both state and federal) to spend billions of taxpayer dollars to subsidize ethanol? While
ethanol and newer biofuel innovations hold great promise, the answer to these questions is currently, "No."
Environmentalists Voice Ethanol
Concerns. On September 20, Environmental Defense — an environmental
activist group whose Web site encourages Americans to give up their gasoline-powered
automobiles to curb global warming — issued a study raising concerns about gasoline's
most viable competitor: ethanol. The group's report … claims the increasingly
widespread use of ethanol as an automotive fuel is severely straining Midwestern water supplies.
Ethanol: Government vs. the Environment.
Not only does ethanol hit taxpayers twice — first through subsidies and then through higher prices
for corn and related products such as milk — it also harms the environment.
Ethanol fuels fire concerns.
The nation's drive to use more alternative fuel carries a danger many communities have been slow to recognize:
Ethanol fires are harder to put out than gasoline ones and require a special type of firefighting foam. Many
fire departments around the country don't have the foam, don't have enough of it, or are not well-trained in
how to apply it, firefighting experts say. It is also more expensive than conventional foam.
Missouri Mandates
Ethanol in Gasoline. Although many pumps don't announce it, almost all the gasoline sold in
Missouri has contained a blend with 10 percent ethanol for at least the past several months. A law
taking effect Tuesday [1/1/2008] makes Missouri just the third state — behind Minnesota and
Hawaii — to implement a wide-ranging ethanol mandate. Because the corn-based fuel is cheaper than
gasoline, most of Missouri's gas stations quietly made the switch months in advance.
A Greatly
Expanded Ethanol Mandate. The new energy bill includes a bevy of new programs
aimed at creating a new industry based at ethanol made from sources other than corn, such as
forest and field waste, switchgrass, and agricultural waste. These second-generation
biofuels are far from a proven technology. According to a recent New York Times report,
"No fuel of the type in question has been produced commercially in the United States."
Millions
In Subsidies For Profitable Corn? Even dried-out corn is money in the bank for a
farmer who sells it to an ethanol plant. But what really has critics angry is that corn
farmers are also still getting automatic subsidy payments from the federal government.
Many get tens of thousands of dollars every year whether they need it or not. The total
cost to taxpayers is $2 billion a year.
Ethanol Loses Ground at U.N.
Climate Conference. Like many experts and economists, conference participants showed little
enthusiasm for first-generation biofuels produced from agriculture — primarily from corn-based
ethanol. Biofuels are hitting consumers at the pump, at the grocery store, and even at tax
time. Without a doubt, the extremely high cost of biofuel production outweighs its supposed
environmental benefits; biofuel production may actually harm the environment more than it helps.
Ethanol Bust
Makes Losers of Bush, Gates, D.E. Shaw. Ethanol, the centerpiece of President George W.
Bush's plan to wean the U.S. from oil, is 2007's worst energy investment. The corn-based fuel tumbled
57 percent from last year's record of $4.33 a gallon and drove crop prices to a 10-year high.
Ethanol
push could threaten water supplies. When it comes to solving the fossil fuel crisis, it seems
like every silver lining comes accompanied by a dark cloud. As attention turns more and more toward
using corn and other products to produce ethanol for fuel, experts warn that increased production of these
crops could pose a threat to the nation's water supplies.
Biofuels 'crime against humanity'.
The growth in the production of biofuels has been driven, in part, by the desire to find less
environmentally-damaging alternatives to oil. The United States is also keen to reduce its reliance on
oil imported from politically unstable regions. But the trend has contributed to a sharp rise in food
prices as farmers, particularly in the US, switch production from wheat and soya to corn, which is then turned
into ethanol.
Forget oil, the new global
crisis is food. At the centre of the imminent food catastrophe is corn — the
main staple of the ethanol industry. The price of corn has risen about 44% over the past
15 months, closing at $4.66 a bushel on the CBOT yesterday — its best finish since
June 1996. This not only impacts the price of food products made using grains, but
also the price of meat, with feed prices for livestock also increasing. … Biofuels
are expected to eat up about a third of America's grain harvest in 2007.
Rush for biofuels threatens
starvation on a global scale. Professor John Beddington put himself at odds with ministers who
have committed Britain to large increases in the use of biofuels over the coming decades. In his first
important public speech since he was appointed, he described the potential impacts of food shortages as the
"elephant in the room" and a problem which rivalled that of climate change. "It's very hard to imagine
how we can see the world growing enough crops to produce renewable energy and at the same time meet the
enormous demand for food," he told a conference on sustainability in London yesterday [3/6/2008].
'Yes,
we can grow corn' — but do we want to? Last May, the field was sown and last week, it
was harvested. "It settled the friendly debate between the farmers that, yes, we can grow corn," said
Brian Duggan, a crop physiologist with Oregon State University. Beyond that, though, Duggan wanted to
find out if it made sense for Jefferson County farmers to join the ethanol craze. What he ultimately
discovered was that someday ethanol might be lucrative and cost-efficient enough to cultivate in the farmlands
of Central Oregon. But, he said, that day isn't here yet.
Beware of Anti-Consumer Energy
Bills On Tap in Congress. Ethanol costs more than gasoline and provides fewer miles per gallon,
so the mandate has hurt consumers. Ethanol has also failed to deliver on its promise to reduce air
pollution and greenhouse gas emissions and decrease dependence on oil imports. At the same time, the
competition for corn between fuel and food uses has led to higher corn prices. ... If ethanol is as great
as its proponents claim, then there is no need for a federal law forcing Americans to use it.
Farmers in Global Warming Alarmists' Crosshairs.
Will ethanol revenue compensate for the sacrifices that will be demanded of farmers? The answer is not for
long. Corn is already obsolete as an ethanol feedstock. According to the Houston-based CLEAN Energy
group, Brazilian-grown sugarcane is more than five times more efficient at making ethanol than U.S.-grown corn.
Any serious ethanol market will funnel money to Brazil rather than to U.S. farmers.
Ethanol:
Time to steer away. Enthusiasm for the corn-based fuel may be good for the political environment,
but not for the physical one. A new paper by The Heritage Foundation's Ben Lieberman road-tests the
latest boondoggle from Washington and finds that its earth-friendly claims are seriously overblown. So,
too, is the notion that using more ethanol reduces oil imports and lowers prices at the pump. Worse,
increased ethanol use drives up other consumer costs.
The Many Myths
of Ethanol. When everyone in politics jumps on a bandwagon like ethanol, I start to wonder if
there's something wrong with it. And there is. Except for that fact that ethanol comes from corn,
nothing you're told about it is true.
The Great Corn Con: The Senate's preposterous new ethanol
bill. Senators congratulated themselves for their environmental foresight. The president,
a biofuels advocate, has enthusiastically endorsed the ethanol surge. But it's almost certainly a
fantasy, since no one in Washington seems to have thought for five minutes about where or how that much
ethanol could be produced.
Is Ethanol / E85 Fuel the
Solution? E85 fuel is not the solution. It is not even a part of the solution, it is a
part of the problem. Here's why, in a nutshell: All US vehicles can burn 10% ethanol (E10), but
the US does not even produce half as much ethanol as universal E10 would require. We make about
5 billion gallons of ethanol, but use 140 billion gallons of gas. E85 and "flex fuel" is a
loophole for the automakers to sell guzzlers without having to pay CAFE penalties. It makes the problem
worse. Ending the loophole probably means ending E85, because there is no other reason for it to exist.
An
Ethanol Reality Check. Ethanol is on a roll, increasingly promoted as a homegrown alternative
to oil from the Middle East. But is ethanol really the fuel of the future, or is it destined to remain
a niche product in the Midwest, subsidized by Congress for the benefit of farm-state politicians?
Crawford County ethanol plant
still doesn't add up for experts. According to [James] Dunn, who has been a member of the Penn
State faculty since 1977, five factors determine the profitability of an ethanol plant: the price of
gasoline; the price of corn; the price of distiller's grains; whether the distiller's grains produced by the
plant, which have a wet shelf life of three days in summer and six days in winter, can be sold wet; and the
cost of transportation. Drying the grain, the group learned, adds a substantial -- perhaps even
prohibitive -- expense to the overall production cost of corn ethanol.
Ethanol is a bad
idea. The use of corn-based ethanol will likely result in a far greater negative than the
positive that could result. ... The problem lies within the fact that, at this point, corn-based Ethanol
is the main source of renewable and alternative fuel. Increasing or mandating the use of ethanol will
drastically increase the demand for corn, which, as a result, will jack up its prices. It already has.
Bulging Grocery Bills Fed By
Global Forces. Demand for corn from the burgeoning ethanol industry in the United States helped
drive corn prices to a peak earlier this year, setting in motion a domino effect of price increases through
the food chain as livestock raisers, food makers and retailers tried to recover costs. Corn prices have
come off their high due to expectations for a huge crop this year, but prices remain historically elevated
because of inflation across the agriculture market. A bushel of corn that went for about $2 a couple of
years ago costs about $3.50 today.
The end of cheap food.
For as long as most people can remember, food has been getting cheaper and farming has been in decline. … Food
today is so cheap that the West is battling gluttony even as it scrapes piles of half-eaten leftovers into the bin.
That is why this year's price rise has been so extraordinary. … But the rise in prices is also the
self-inflicted result of America's reckless ethanol subsidies.
Ethanol: A Tragedy
in 3 Acts. If there were ever a time when the truth in advertising standards should be put back
into place, it's now -- during the current (third) attempt to convince the public that the massive
use of corn-derived ethanol in our gasoline supply will alleviate our need for foreign oil. Ultimately,
the answer to just one question determines ethanol's actual usefulness as a gasoline extender: "If
the government hadn't mandated this product, would it survive in a free market?" Doubtful -- but
the misinformation superhighway has been rerouted to convince the public its energy salvation
is at hand.
Ethanol
Hurts the Environment And Is One of America's Biggest Political Boondoggles. The whole point of
corn ethanol is not to solve America's energy crisis, but to generate one of the great political boondoggles
of our time. Corn is already the most subsidized crop in America, raking in a total of $51 billion
in federal handouts between 1995 and 2005 — twice as much as wheat subsidies and four times as much
as soybeans. Ethanol itself is propped up by hefty subsidies, including a
fifty-one-cent-per-gallon tax allowance for refiners.
Caution:
The article above appears in Rolling Stone and is replete with profanity. The quote shown here is
enough to get the point of the article, so don't bother reading the whole thing. The link is
provided only to show that I'm not making this up on my own.
Hawaii
ethanol law falls short of goals. Hawaii imported 55.4 million gallons of ethanol in the
12 months since the state began requiring most gasoline sold in the Islands to be blended with the
alternative fuel. … However, the mandate — which oil companies contend makes gasoline more
expensive — has not made the Aloha State any more energy independent. Lacking a local ethanol
source, oil companies have been importing the grain-based fuel from countries such as El Salvador.
'Green'
Energy Source a Major Polluter. Call it green pollution. The ethanol industry, which is
marketed as environmentally friendly and has been called a "cornerstone of America's energy policy," is
dirtying air and water supplies across the heartland, according to a Cybercast News Service investigation.
And industry watchers said pollution is going to get worse.
Ethanol stirring coastal concerns.
The recent passage of the mammoth energy bill could have unintended consequences for the Gulf of Mexico that have
nothing to do with oil and gas platforms. Under the law, production of ethanol is set to increase five-fold
to 36 billion gallons a year by 2020. Some environmentalists are worried that the shift to ethanol —
viewed as a home-grown alternative to foreign oil — could enlarge the northern Gulf's "dead zone," an
8,000-square-mile area so devoid of oxygen that fish, shrimp and other sea life cannot survive.
Corn boom could expand 'dead zone' in Gulf.
Because of rising demand for ethanol, American farmers are growing more corn than at any time since World
War II. And sea life in the Gulf of Mexico is paying the price. The nation's corn crop is fertilized
with millions of pounds of nitrogen-based fertilizer. And when that nitrogen runs off fields in Corn Belt
states, it makes its way to the Mississippi River and eventually pours into the Gulf, where it contributes to a
growing "dead zone" — a 7,900-square-mile patch so depleted of oxygen that fish, crabs and shrimp
suffocate.
Ethanol boom may fuel shortage of tequila.
Mexican farmers are setting ablaze fields of blue agave, the cactus-like plant used to make the fiery spirit
tequila, and resowing the land with corn as soaring U.S. ethanol demand pushes up prices.
What's next, a space shuttle fueled by ethanol?
Indy 500's corn-fed cars.
When drivers round the curves on Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, they will be propelled by fuel produced
not in the Middle East, but Middle America. The Indianapolis 500 will for the first time feature cars
running entirely on ethanol, a clean-burning fuel derived from corn and other crops.
Study show
Ethanol-blend Auto Emissions are No Greener than Gasoline. An unpublished [Canadian] federal
report appears to undermine the belief that commercially available ethanol-blended fuel produces cleaner
emissions than regular gasoline.
The Ethanol Mandate Should
Not Be Expanded. The new ethanol mandate is perhaps the most disappointing program in the
Energy Policy Act of 2005. Since taking effect in 2006, this measure has increased energy and food
prices while doing little to reduce oil imports or improve the environment. Based on this track
record, the Administration and Congress should now be debating the repeal of this ill-advised and
anti-consumer measure.
Ethanol's Bitter Taste:
The shine is off corn ethanol, and oh, what a comedown it has been. It was only in January that President
Bush was calling for a yet a bijillion more gallons of the wonder-stuff in his State of the Union address, and
Iowa's Chuck Grassley was practically doing the Macarena in his seat. And why shouldn't Mr. Grassley
and fellow ethanol handmaidens have boogied? They'd forced their first mandate through Congress, corn
farmers were rolling in dough, billions in taxpayer dollars were spurring dozens of new ethanol plants -- and
here was the commander-in-chief calling for yet more yellow dollars. All in the name of national
security, too!
Ethanol to Take Big Bite of
Record US Corn Crop. The surging fuel ethanol industry will gobble up 27 percent of this
year's US corn crop, challenging US farmers' ability to satisfy food, feed and fuel demand, the US government
said Friday [5/11/2007].
Bush's
ethanol dreams make corn a hot commodity. When Americans fire up their grills for late summer
barbecues over the next few weeks, a cloud will be hanging over them in the form of higher prices for steak,
chicken and ribs. The reason can be found in the rapid rise in the cost of corn, which is used not only
as food for animals that provide meat, but also as an important basic ingredient used in the production of
ethanol in the US. President George W. Bush unleashed the new popularity of ethanol when he set a
goal to lower US dependence on foreign oil. The price of corn has shot up to nearly double 2005 levels
in response to the increased demand.
Ethanol
plan not working so far. One year after the state began requiring motorists to use ethanol-blended
gasoline, none of the planned local ethanol plants have broken ground, and questions remain over whether Hawaii
can even grow the massive amount of crops needed to satisfy demands for the alternative fuel.
Rural boon
or corn-doggle? Call them Yuma's dot-corn guys. Like the dot-com entrepreneurs of the
1990s, they're gambling big bucks on the next big thing. But these farmers and investors are focused on
ethanol, an alternative fuel that uses corn as its base. ... The ethanol rush reminds farmer Brett Rutledge
of the Internet startups that made millions almost overnight, at least on paper. But many also went
bust. Rutledge wonders how many ethanol businesses can succeed — and how soon they'll start
spitting out cash. "It's funny," Rutledge says. "All of their money appears to be on paper."
Congress,
White House to Push Ethanol. Demand for ethanol for cars will attract enough support to lead to
passage of a major farm bill next year, despite disagreement on subsidy payments for farmers, a key Democrat
and the Republican agriculture secretary agreed Tuesday [12/12/2006]. Popularity of corn-based ethanol
has soared because of high oil and gas prices. But corn prices have risen so high, and surpluses have
dropped so low, that lawmakers want to find other crops to make ethanol and keep the industry growing.
The Corn
Threat: The original Bush plan had accommodated the ethanol lobby's request for a three-billion
gallon mandate — a provision justified by the "infant industries" argument, though by this time
ethanol was a 30-year-old "infant" supported by more than 16 statutes granting it preferences and
subsidies. Through the congressional obstruction period of 2002-04, when Bush's energy plan
was held political hostage, the renewable-fuels mandate was expanded to five-billion gallons in a
consensus handshake agreement among all parties — ethanol makers, oil refineries, corn growers,
and other stakeholders.
The Big Green Fuel
Lie: The ethanol industry has been linked with air and water pollution on an epic scale, along
with deforestation in both the Amazon and Atlantic rainforests, as well as the wholesale destruction of
Brazil's unique savannah land. ... Many biofuel crops, such as corn, are grown with the help of fossil fuels
in the form of fertilizers, pesticides and the petrol for farm equipment. One estimate is that corn needs
30 percent more energy than the finished fuel it produces.
Ethanol's
Growing List of Enemies: In the past year, corn prices have doubled as demand from
ethanol producers has surged. "This ethanol binge is insane," says [Paul] Hitch, who's
president-elect of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA).
The biofuel myths: [One of
the myths is] Biofuels are clean and green. Because photosynthesis performed by fuel crops removes
greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and can reduce fossil fuel consumption, we are told they are green.
But ... Every ton of palm oil generates 33 tons of carbon dioxide emissions -- 10 times more than
petroleum. Tropical forests cleared for sugar cane ethanol emit 50 percent more greenhouse gases
than the production and use of the same amount of gasoline.
Spaghetti
is the latest victim of biofuel boom. The humble plate of spaghetti, Italy's favourite dish, is
set to soar in price, becoming the latest victim of the global rush on crops used for the biofuel industry.
The price of a packet of dried pasta in a supermarket will go up by a fifth from September, said Mario Rummo,
the president of the Italian pasta-makers' union.
Dethroning 'Big Oil' to crown 'Big Corn'.
It pays to be friendly with the majority party in Congress. The proof is in the new energy bill that
recently passed the House during the Democrats' "100-hour" agenda. The CLEAN Energy Act of 2007, a contrived
political acronym for "Creating Long-Term Energy Alternatives for the Nation," has been portrayed as
ending preferences for so-called "Big Oil" — a familiar victim on the left-wing's whipping
post. In truth, what the bill does is raise taxes to subsidize a lesser-known but growing
conglomerate: "Big Corn".
Corn Plunges 5%
as U.S. Farmers Plan the Most Acres Since 1944. Corn prices fell the maximum allowed by the
Chicago Board of Trade after a government survey showed U.S. farmers plan to sow more of the grain than
analysts expected this spring and the most since 1944. Soybeans also dropped. Corn acres will rise
15 percent from last year to 90.454 million, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.
Forget ethanol; save
corn for bourbon. Grandpa cooked corn into sour mash whiskey in a process nearly identical to
the one used today to produce ethanol. But while the feds chased Old Pap up hills and down hollers to
stop him from running off a batch or two of home brew, the government this year will provide more than
$7 billion in subsidies to encourage a massive expansion of ethanol production. I think Jim Beam
could do more good with that corn and money than the purveyors of E-85.
Study
Shows Ethanol Won't Solve Energy Problems. Ethanol is far from a cure-all for the nation's
energy problems. It's not as environmentally friendly as some supporters claim and would supply
only 12 percent of U.S. motoring fuel … even if every acre of corn were used.
Should Greens Reconsider Ethanol
Mandates? Unfortunately, the American public does not yet understand the massive land requirements
of U.S. corn ethanol, nor the unique conditions that have allowed sugar cane ethanol to make a modest energy
contribution in Brazil. The United States might have to clear an additional 50 million acres of
forest — or more — to produce economically significant amounts of liquid transport fuels." So
much for tree-hugging. Environmental activists would have us clear-cut U.S. forestland (which,
to layer the irony, is supposed to help sequester carbon dioxide) for the sake of unsettled science
and global warming alarmism.
Ethanol Hypocrites. Only
yesterday, we were hearing about the glories of ethanol as a renewable resource superior to oil because of its
low carbon emissions. Fill up with ethanol — help end global warming. Bill Clinton was big
on this, lobbying against offshore oil drilling in California in favor of big-government ethanol programs.
But now that [President] Bush, on a visit to Brazil on Thursday [3/8/2007], is launching a major alliance to
develop ethanol, nobody in that camp is applauding. Instead, we hear how sugar production for ethanol is
trashing the otherwise forgotten rain forest and now adds to global warming.
One year later...
Clinton Link In Brazil
Ethanol Probe. A team from Brazil's Labor Ministry found "degrading" living conditions for
133 sugarcane workers employed by an ethanol company whose investors include former President Clinton and
other high-profile financial players. At five sites inspected, workers "complained they were suffering
from hunger and cold, and all of the locations were overcrowded and with terrible sanitary conditions,"
according to a statement issued Friday [3/7/2008] by Jaqueline Carrijo, who led the inspections last month.
Bush Hails Biofuels Pact in
Brazil. At a mega fuel depot for tanker trucks, President Bush heralded a new ethanol agreement
with Brazil Friday as way to boost alternative fuels production across the Americas. Demonstrators upset
with Bush's visit here worry that the president and his biofuels buddy, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula
da Silva, really have visions of an OPEC-like cartel on ethanol.
New prospect for US: a glut of ethanol
plants. Ethanol production could pull so much corn out of the food supply by 2008 that US corn
exports could plummet. The food-fuel competition could push corn prices so high that some ethanol
producers in the fledgling industry, which many deem vital to US energy security, would merely break
even — or, if corn gets pricey enough, actually lose money.
Demand for ethanol driving up meat
prices. Strong demand for corn to use in ethanol plants is driving up the cost of livestock and
will raise prices for beef, pork and chicken, the Agriculture Department said Friday [3/9/2007]. Meat and
poultry production will fall as producers face higher feed costs, the department said in its monthly crop report.
Ethanol fuel, which is blended with gasoline, is consuming 20% of last year's corn crop and is expected to gobble
up more than 25% of this year's crop.
Ethanol: The Other Energy
Scandal. If only taxpayers could get some of their money back from a far bigger corporate energy
fraud that continues unabated in Washington.
Environmentalism
versus the Poor -- Again. The current pro-ethanol fad in the United States apparently is a factor
in making poor Mexicans cut back on corn tortillas, a dietary staple, says a January 27 Washington Post
article by Manuel Roig-Franzia.
Tortilla crisis hits the poor as clean
fuel drives up corn price. Tens of thousands of farmers, trade unionists and consumers gathered
in Mexico City's central square this week to protest against the rising price of the staple of the Mexican diet
since pre-Hispanic times. "No corn, no country," protesters chanted as they massed for the first big
demonstration against [President] Calderón. Workers on the minimum wage could now spend a third
of their earnings on tortillas alone.
Ethanol and its unintended
consequences: Many Democrats and some Republicans applauded President Bush's State of the
Union proposal for a 20 percent reduction in gasoline use over the next 10 years, largely through
greater reliance on ethanol. Mr. Bush's idea, however, is adding corn-based fuel to protests in
Mexico City. Existing federal laws that mandate ethanol in U.S. gasoline have diverted trainloads of
corn from America's food supply-chain to ethanol factories. This boosted U.S. corn prices nearly
80 percent in 2006.
Global warming's friendly
fire. Environmental fundamentalism is making the lives of the poor even worse in Mexico after
triggering a huge rise in the price of corn — the chief component of the tortilla — thanks
to a government-induced increase in the demand for ethanol in the United States. This constitutes
poignant evidence that the drive for carbon reduction can be costly.
Study warns of ethanol's effect on corn
prices. Soaring demand for corn to make ethanol could trigger higher U.S. food prices and riots
in low-income countries as grain supplies tighten, according to a report released Thursday [1/4/2007]. The
government has vastly underestimated the amount of corn needed to fuel the demand for ethanol, according to the
report from Lester Brown, a researcher and president of the Earth Policy Institute, an environmental think tank
in Washington. Corn is the main ingredient for ethanol, which is mixed with gasoline to make motor fuel.
A bushel of corn produces about 2.8 gallons of ethanol.
Clinton
Shills For Bad Energy Policy. Bill Clinton's back, now touting tax hikes for ethanol to
California voters. "If Brazil can do it, so can we," he said, claiming an ethanol switch ended
Brazil's need for foreign oil. Once again, he's telling whoppers.
Food-crop biofuels given thumbs
down. Producing biofuels such as ethanol from food crops isn't worth the effort. That's
the conclusion of a new and painstaking study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy
of Sciences. Researchers should instead concentrate either on producing ethanol from indigestible plant
material such as cellulose, or on synthetic hydrocarbon fuels.
Experts
say Ethanol's Water Demands are a Concern. City officials in Champaign and Urbana took notice
when they heard that an ethanol plant proposed nearby would use about 2 million gallons of water per
day, most likely from the aquifer that also supplies both cities. "There was concern about impacting a
pretty valuable resource," said Matt Wempe, a city planner for Urbana. "It should raise red flags."
Shell Says Biofuels From Food
Crops "Morally Inappropriate". Royal Dutch Shell, the world's top marketer of biofuels,
considers using food crops to make biofuels "morally inappropriate" as long as there are people in the
world who are starving, an executive said on Thursday [7/6/2006].
Ethanol
Benefits Makers, Legislators Who Support Their Cause. More than two decades and tens of
billions of dollars in subsidies, tax credits and fuel mandates have done little other than to further
enrich Archer-Daniels Midland (ADM), the multibillion dollar agri-giant that produces more than
70 percent of the ethanol used in America. In return, ADM has been a major campaign
contributor to key farm state legislators in both political parties.
The Editor says...
Incidentally, the Department of Agriculture awarded $3,797,129,674 in federal contracts in fiscal year 2006,
including $184,309,956 to the Archer Daniels Midland
Company.*
A Congressional Waste of Energy: One
of the reasons why an energy bill has taken so long to craft is that every special interest imaginable
has stuck its oar in. For instance, both House and Senate versions of the current bill contain
measures to mandate the addition of ethanol to gasoline. Ethanol, largely derived from corn,
costs much more than the equivalent amount of gasoline and provides less energy (which explains why
Archer Daniels Midland and other ethanol producers need Washington to force its product on the driving
public). Gas prices have been rocketing over the past year and the ethanol provisions can only
make matters worse.
Another
Gallon of Pork: Pork comes in all shapes and sizes. Some of it is
made out of corn. Specifically, ethanol. This is an environmentally correct
fuel source that's not quite all it's cracked up to be. Either as an energy
saver or as a pollution saver.
Who Really Benefits From Ethanol? Ethanol
illustrates the workings of the political process when there is an entrenched, well-organized
beneficiary, heterogeneous opponents with less at stake, and technical information that makes
it difficult for general voters to assess the issue. Unless a constituency emerges in
whose interest it is to expose ethanol, or unless the costs of the subsidy rise substantially,
this agricultural support program will continue.
House, Senate Vote to Double
Ethanol Fuel Requirement. The U.S. Senate on June 5 [2003] approved by
a 67-29 vote a measure to double the ethanol requirement in the nation's gasoline. Senate
opposition to the measure came from East and West Coast legislators, who objected to the price
hikes expected to result. Their opposition surprised some observers, who noted the
senators are typically willing to ramp up fuel prices by restricting the recovery of oil and
other natural resources. Meanwhile, the Senate continues to debate an energy bill that
will provide billions of dollars in subsidies for even more costly energy sources with dubious
environmental benefits, such as wind and solar power.
Ethanol mandate sparks Democrats'
opposition. Senate Democrats Feinstein, Clinton, Boxer and Schumer vehemently
oppose the mandate. The foursome offers several telling objections. [For example]
the ethanol mandate amounts to a "new gas tax" that could raise fuel costs 9.6 cents per
gallon in California, 7.1 cents per gallon in New York, and 4.0 cents per gallon
even in the Midwest states where 98 percent of the nation's ethanol is produced. [And
this] mandate is flagrant corporate welfare, transferring billions of dollars from working
families to a handful of big companies.
Wait a minute -- she's changing her mind.
Sen.
Clinton pitches ethanol energy plan. Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on
Tuesday [5/23/2006] called for cutting U.S. dependence on foreign oil in half by nearly 8 million
barrels a day by the year 2025 — a goal she said can be met with more ethanol-based fuel and
a $50 billion research fund.
Hillary
Clinton plugs increased ethanol use. Sen. Hillary Clinton, who once opposed requiring motorists
to use corn-based ethanol in their cars, proposed Tuesday to dramatically boost use of the alcohol fuel.
Naturally the Farm Bureau Supports
the Ethanol Mandate. Ethanol production is important to American agriculture
because it uses farm commodities, particularly corn, thus increasing demand for the
commodity. Diesel fuel using soybeans and other farm product conversions are rapidly
expanding the potential to increase commodity prices and reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
It's Time to End the Ethanol Tax
Credit. If ethanol is as valuable as its proponents say, then the free market
should determine its value without the distortion of a subsidy or a tax credit. And if
ethanol is less valuable than other alternatives, a subsidy weights it unfairly.
Ethanol FAQ: A primer on
ethanol as a fuel additive, the origins and purposes of the fuel oxygenation requirement, and
a balanced consideration of the benefits and hazards of reformulating gasoline with ethanol.
Ethanol Requirements: No
tanks. All lawmakers have to do is require that gasoline contain a given percentage
of ethanol, and our gas-price problems won't be as bad. Or so the theory goes. The problem
is, we've been doing this for years, and it's not working so well. In fact, it's part of the
reason gasoline prices are so high.
New Ethanol Plants to Be
Fueled by Cow Manure. The new facilities may have a big impact on the growing debate over the
value of ethanol — a liquid fuel distilled from food starches such as corn — as a
supplement or alternative to gasoline. Critics have long argued that traditional ethanol production
consumes nearly as much fossil fuel energy as it saves, once all the energy costs of growing and processing
corn are factored in.
Colorado Legislature Debates Ethanol
Mandate. Free-market analysts are also split on ethanol, producers of which receive subsidies
and tax credits from the federal government. Some analysts, such as Heartland Institute Science Director
Jay Lehr, believe ethanol is a long-term winner with or without favorable government treatment. Others,
like the Cato Institute's Jerry Taylor, feel government is unfairly picking winners and losers in an economic
matter best left to free markets.
Ethanol as gas replacement: Hope or
hype? At the University of California at Berkeley, geoengineering professor Tad Patzek …
says the American public has been force-fed the ethanol myth. "The first thing that is untrue about it
is that people think it's going to solve our energy problems," he said. "It will not. The second
thing that is untrue about it is that people say it's sustainable — it absolutely is not."
Farming for Ethanol Would Have Serious
Consequences for Forests, Food Production. To make ethanol a significant U.S. fuel source will
require clearing a tremendous amount of forestland and turning it into farms. Supplying just
10 percent of our auto fuel with domestically produced ethanol right now would require us to
burn up 55 percent of the corn crop currently being produced on 78 million high-yield U.S.
acres. From an economic standpoint, I believe America's current corn land is best employed in
supplying corn flakes, tacos, and chicken feed for the world's families.
Taxpayers
Should Be Alarmed by Proposals at Hawaii Biofuels Summit. As a retired scientist I was dismayed
by the lack of worthwhile engineering, scientific, or economic data being presented. Little quantitative
data was provided. For example we consume today nearly 400,000,000 gallons of gasoline per day in the
United States. What fraction of this daily total gasoline used, will all of the biomass fuels being
contemplated replace, 2 percent, 5 percent, 10 percent? How much energy, land, water,
fertilizers, and new infrastructure will be needed to do this? And will it be worth it? And
says who? One got the impression in the meeting that engineering and economic successes in biofuels
were foregone conclusions for the future of this effort.
Ethanol Pollution Surprise:
Factories that convert corn into the gasoline additive ethanol are releasing carbon monoxide, methanol and some
carcinogens at levels "many times greater" than they promised, the government says.
Ethanol fuel from corn
faulted as 'unsustainable subsidized food burning' in analysis by Cornell scientist. Neither
increases in government subsidies to corn-based ethanol fuel nor hikes in the price of petroleum can overcome
what one Cornell University agricultural scientist calls a fundamental input-yield problem: It takes
more energy to make ethanol from grain than the combustion of ethanol produces. At a time when
ethanol-gasoline mixtures (gasohol) are touted as the American answer to fossil fuel shortages by corn
producers, food processors and some lawmakers, Cornell's David Pimentel takes a longer range view.
Archer Daniels Midland: A Case Study In Corporate
Welfare. Thanks to federal protection of the domestic sugar industry, ethanol subsidies, subsidized
grain exports, and various other programs, ADM has cost the American economy billions of dollars since 1980 and
has indirectly cost Americans tens of billions of dollars in higher prices and higher taxes over that same
period. At least 43 percent of ADM's annual profits are from products heavily subsidized or protected
by the American government. Moreover, every $1 of profits earned by ADM's corn sweetener operation costs
consumers $10, and every $1 of profits earned by its ethanol operation costs taxpayers $30.
Ethanol Background and Public
Policy Issues: Ethanol is expensive relative to gasoline, but it is subject to a federal tax
exemption of 5.3 cents per gallon of gasohol (or 53 cents per gallon of pure ethanol). This
exemption brings the cost of pure ethanol, which is about double that of conventional gasoline and other
oxygenates, within reach of the cost of competitive substances. In addition, there are other incentives
such as a small ethanol producers tax credit. It has been argued that the fuel ethanol industry could
scarcely survive without these incentives.
The domino effect is coming to the grocery store:
Corn
Prices Driving Up Ranchers' Costs. The demand for ethanol has doubled the price of corn. But
with the third largest corn crop on record, prices should be going down. "Cattle or horse feed that once
had a lot of corn in it, now it's being substituted with oats and barley," said feed store retailer Sandy
Olah, "and those prices are going up." It's the corn prices that are hurting cattle ranchers. ... Corn
prices have gone from $2 to $4 per bushel.
The Meat Tax: Those
who want to end global warming and our reliance on foreign oil often propose a massive "carbon tax" to make
crude less appealing. Don't look now, but you're already paying it. By heavily subsidizing the use
of ethanol, a fuel additive less efficient than gasoline and costlier to produce, Congress has, in effect,
enacted a tax hike.
Green
Myths: Enviro 'Facts' that Aren't. Alternative fuels can be as land-hungry as agriculture.
The typical 1,000 megawatt coal or nuclear plant might sit on a few acres. To generate the same amount of
electricity with renewables would require 60,000 acres for a utility-scale wind farm, or about 11,000 acres of
photovoltaic cells capturing the sun's light. Ethanol, too, can't be produced in the massive quantities
required to make a significant dent in our gasoline consumption — and its production depends on vast tracts
of farmland, too.
Biofuel repertoire expanded.
Ethanol has a number of problems, not least its low energy density, its volatility and its water-absorbing nature.
A potential alternative is 2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF) with a 40% higher energy density, a boiling point 20°C higher
than ethanol and a dislike for water. But DMF has proven hard to make economically from crops and their sugars.
Until now that is.
(Ethanol is marketed in small quantites
as Everclear.)
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