The news about ethanol keeps getting worse. The plans by Shrub and company to double the U.S. production of ethanol needs to be scrapped in the worst way. The world markets for grain are being horribly distorted by the shift of corn from food to fuel. The people least able to afford it are being hurt the worst. If ethanol were really the answer it might be a little different but study after study(not to mention common sense) shows that the net is that ethanol is worse for the environment than fossil fuels.
Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. plans to replace 15 percent of gasoline consumption with crop-based fuels including ethanol are already leading to some unintended consequences as food prices and fertilizer costs increase.
About 33 percent of U.S. corn will be used for fuel during the next decade, up from 11 percent in 2002, the Agriculture Department estimates. Corn rose 20 percent to a record on the Chicago Board of Trade since Dec. 19, the day President George W. Bush signed a law requiring a fivefold jump in renewable fuels by 2022.
Increased demand for the grain helped boost food prices by 4.9 percent last year, the most since 1990, and will reduce global inventories of corn to the lowest in 24 years, government data show. While advocates say ethanol is cleaner than gasoline, a Princeton University study this month said it causes more environmental harm than fossil fuels.
``We are mandating and subsidizing something that is distorting the marketplace,'' said Cal Dooley, a former U.S. congressman from California, who represents companies including Kraft Foods Inc. and General Mills Inc. as president of the Grocery Manufacturers Association in Washington. ``There are no excess commodities, and prices are rising.''
Bad for the economy, bad for consumers, bad for the planet — what’s not to love?
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