THE CORN ETHANOL BOONDOGGLE….In the LA Times today, Colin Carter and Henry Miller argue that there’s a big problem with President Bush’s goal of replacing 15% of domestic gasoline use with ethanol:
With current technology, almost all of this biofuel would have to come from corn because there is no feasible alternative. However, achieving the 15% goal would require the entire current U.S. corn crop, which represents a whopping 40% of the world’s corn supply.
….Thus, it is no surprise that the price of corn has doubled in the last year — from $2 to $4 a bushel. We are already seeing upward pressure on food prices as the demand for ethanol boosts the demand for corn.
That’s a problem? I thought that was the whole point.
Seriously, though, read the whole thing. As practically everyone except politicians pandering their way through Iowa knows, corn ethanol is a boondoggle. It doesn’t do much to reduce oil use, it doesn’t do much for the environment, and it doesn’t do much for your food bill. All it does is make corn farmers happy.
