Perhaps we have the Iowa voters to thank for the foolishness of the latest energy bill. It significantly increases incentives to produce ethanol from corn.
Am I unaware of the urgent threat of global warming, unwilling to pay a few cents more for fuel and Fritos to end our servitude to sheiks and demagogues? Have I not seen Al Gore in An Inconvenient Truth (or one of the sequels playing in an auditorium near you)?
Here’s the problem: Ethanol from corn just doesn’t make sense economically or environmentally. Many studies conclude that the corn-to-fuel process consumes more fossil fuel that it displaces. A recent study from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development dubbed corn from ethanol as “a cure [for oil dependence] that is worse than the disease.”
A weekly commentary by a senior staff member on public policy + updates.
Enter your email address.