RSSCorn on the Cob, NOT Corn on the Car
Warner Todd Huston | May 10, 2008
-By Warner Todd Huston
So, here is the rub, you think you’re saving the planet and, therefore the human race, by proposing that we grow our gasoline in our corn crops instead of using those eeeevil fossil fuel, right? You say let’s make ethanol from our corn and all will be in balance? You feel really, really good about yourself – after all “feelings” are what counts, not results.
But, the next thing you know, they are starving in Haiti and rioting over the 40% rise in basic food costs because of you and your neato ethanol idea.
Now how do you feel? Are you saving people now?
Well Representatives Jeff Flake (R, Arizona James Sensenbrenner (R, Wisconsin) have introduced HR 5911, the Remove Incentives to Produce Ethanol Act of 2008 (RIPE Act) to curb this foolish over indulgence in ethanol production.
Flake laments the unintended consequences that the do-gooders in the envirowacko extreme caused with this absurd emphasis on ethanol production.
“This is a classic case of the law of unintended consequences. Congress surely did not intend to raise food prices by incentivizing ethanol, but that’s precisely what’s happened. A jump in food prices is the last thing our economy needs right now.”
And Sensenbrenner reminds us that all the supposed benefits of ethanol were never really proved out in reality.
“I have always been opposed to reformulated gasoline (RFG) because it doesn’t reduce the pollution it was supposed to, and in fact, increases other kinds of pollution,” said Sensenbrenner.
“Fuel mixed with ethanol is less efficient, and results in fewer miles per gallon for consumers,” Sensenbrenner continued. “Moreover, it’s extremely expensive, even in the Midwest, where although corn is abundant, the cost of converting it to ethanol, and the difficulties associated with transporting it, has made it more expensive than traditional gasoline. As a result, we are seeing dramatic price increases in corn, which is hitting families hard considering the prevalence of corn in food production and in animal feed.”
“The fact is, the ethanol industry has been subsidized for twenty-seven years and claims to still need the subsidies to survive,” Sensenbrenner added. “If an industry cannot survive without government support after twenty-seven years, there are more serious problems in place.”
With 25% of our corn crop suddenly going to ethanol production, the cost of foodstuff has seen a big inflation in costs, not just here in the US but all across the world. After all, if corn is to be subsidized by the government, farmers will gravitate to the crop that pays them the most. And since the US really does feed the world, less (corn) is not more (food) in this case.
Call your representative and tell them to support HR 5911.
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