If You Don't Support Corn Ethanol, You Must be a Terrorist!

There were a couple of outstanding articles in the latest issue of Rolling Stone magazine that are worth reading. One is about Ethanol as a substitute fuel and the other (which I may discuss in a later post) is about Dateline's show To Catch a Predator. Both are excellent because they reasonably and rationally build arguments that buck the conventional wisdom. Think due process and legal protection are worth sacrificing to catch potential pedophiles? Think again - if you want to bother considering where those resources could be better spent to achieve the broader goal of protecting children.

But, let's focus now on corn-based Ethanol - the biofuel that's going to save the earth! According to former CIA Director John Woolsey, "American farmers, by making a commitment to grow more corn for ethanol, are at the top of the spear on the war against terrorism." Here are some quick facts from the article - summarized here for your protection:

• Last month, the Senate mandated the production of 36 billion gallons of ethanol by 2022.
• Corn is today the most subsidized crop in America (getting twice as much as wheat subsidies and four times as much as soybeans). Ethanol is further subsidized (including a 51-cent-per-gallon tax allowance for refiners)
• Our current ethanol production represents only 3.5% of our gasoline consumption, but consumer 20% of the entire U.S. corn crop.
• The resulting increase in the price of corn means ...
• ...devoting more acreage to the production of corn (less land for other staple crops)
• ...giving incentive for South American farmers to destroy more tropical forests for corn fields
• Even corn growers admit that turning more grain into fuel would disrupt global food supplies.
• Ethanol's energy density (how much power you can generate from a certain amount of the fuel) is one-third less than gasoline.
• Since it has a tendency to absorb water, it can't be transported by pipelines, but must use truck or rail, which is inefficient and results in an increase in consumption of fossil fuels for delivery.
• When you add up the fossil fuels used to irrigate, fertilize, transport, refine and grow corn into usable ethanol, its energy balance is 1.3-to-1 (the energy balance of gasoline is 5-to-1). Huge amount of fossil fuels are burned to produce corn.
• When corn ethanol is burned in automobiles, it is as "dirty" as conventional gasoline and does not help global warming.
• Even if ethanol producers manage to hit the mandated 36 billion gallons of ethanol by 2022, that will replace only 7% of our current oil needs.
• Even if you were willing to give up ALL corn consumption and devote 100% of the U.S. corn crop for making ethanol, it would replace only 12% of current gasoline use. Ethanol is not the magic bullet to free us from dependence on foreign oil.
• Runoff from industrial-scale cornfields silts up the Mississippi river creating the Gulf of Mexico dead zone.
• Creating the equivalent of one SUV fill-up of pure ethanol requires more than 450 pounds of corn - enough calories to feed one person for a year.
• The increased devotion of corn to ethanol production has resulted in massive increases in the price of poultry , beef, and pork as farmers can't afford the corn to feed the animals.
• The biggest corporate beneficiary of corn subsidies and related tax breaks, ADM has cozy link to ethanol supporting politicians.
• The closer we get to the Iowa primary, the greater the rush among politicians to publicly shout their support for corn ethanol.

So forget the fact that ethanol is bad for the environment, does not help with global warming, does not reduce dependence on foreign oil (and may actually increase it), and may leave more of the world's poorest hungry. Because, as our friendly, caring politicians will let you know, if you don't support corn ethanol, you obviously hate our country, you unpatriotic SOB!

I urge you to read the full article in Rolling Stone by Jeff Goodell, here.