We are from a farming community that grows a lot of corn. Ethanol (alcohol) and corn production are both heavily subsidized. My thinking is that they both are “pork barrel” projects. Doesn’t it take as much or more fossil fuel energy to produce a given amount of ethanol energy? Maybe the ethanol lobbyists and producers aren’t telling us the full story?
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Maybe not, but who can blame them? The full story seems to be that ethanol subsidies are a complete waste. One can’t expect a lobbyist to walk into a farm belt congressperson’s office and say, “Sir or madam, ethanol subsidies don’t reduce our dependence on foreign oil, alleviate air pollution, or benefit the country in any other demonstrable way. A large portion of the money goes directly into the coffers of a single multibillion-dollar corporation. Some experts say that manufacturing ethanol consumes more energy than the fuel produces. In fact, all the ethanol industry dependably generates is profits for itself and campaign contributions for you. Can we count on your vote?”
The immediate beneficiaries of ethanol subsidies have been corn farmers and, more significantly, the Archer Daniels Midland Corporation of Decatur, Illinois, better known as ADM. The world’s largest grain processor, ADM produces 40 percent of the ethanol used to make gasohol. As might be supposed, the company and its officers have been eloquent in their defense of ethanol and generous in contributing to both political parties. The politicians have been generous right back. The libertarian Cato Institute estimates that every dollar of ADM’s ethanol profit costs taxpayers 30 bucks.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): illustration/Slug Signorino.
