Ethanol programs have largely been viewed as a win-win situation, in which agricultural, environmental, and energy policy objectives would converge to create a single strategy that would benefit states and the country overall. Ethanol production would achieve a number of important agricultural policy objectives, such as creating jobs, increasing crop prices, and increasing tax revenues from the agricultural sector, while creating a fuel that would ostensibly help displace the use of imported oil.
Viewed up close, unfortunately, ethanol made from corn emerges not as a win-win but, at best, as a win/lose strategy for many other states). While state ethanol programs may achieve short-term gains for their agricultural (largely corn-growing) community and for ethanol producers, most will actually be producing a fuel that:
- Can play just a minor role in displacing oil in the near term while consuming corn – a food crop increasingly needed for feeding the world’s hungry peoples.
- Will add to inflationary pressures by driving up the cost of animal and food products dependent on corn.
- Has debatable net pollution reduction benefits and that requires major use of non-renewable land and energy resources to produce, resulting in little or no net energy benefit.
- In addition to playing a minor role in displacing oil in the short term, may contribute little or nothing to addressing the key challenge that this country faces in the long term – namely, the need to shift away from oil-derived fuels altogether to the new fuels and advanced propulsion systems needed for a sustainable energy future.
- Is produced and able to compete in the marketplace only with huge public subsidies, diverting billions of dollars in public funds from pursuit of potentially better alternatives.
Energy Vision’s Critical Position Paper:
