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 Editorials | Opinions | May 2008 
Corn-Ethanol Not the 'Answer' to Energy Needs
 Kenneth E. Feltman - Greene County Dailies
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The corn-ethanol lobby is well organized, aggressive and nasty. Last year, I wrote three articles saying that corn-ethanol production takes farmland out of food production, uses huge amounts of increasingly scarce water, and leaves poor people in countries such as Mexico hungry because their cost of food increases beyond their means as corn and other grains are diverted to fuel.
After the second article, a biofuels executive threatened that I might become "roadkill" if I did not change the subject. Another corn-ethanol advocate accused me of siding with "an enemy of America" when I wrote that Venezuela's Hugo Chavez accused the U.S. of starving the poor to "feed automobiles." Even enemies can be correct sometimes. Beside, India's finance minister called ethanol "a crime against humanity." So it was not just Chavez who linked higher Mexican tortilla prices with American corn that was diverted to fuel.
Corn-ethanol is a wasteful way to power internal combustion engines. Sadly, corn-ethanol has been portrayed as an "answer" to energy needs. So other possible answers - answers that may not be as "clean" or farmer-friendly - have been neglected. But can anyone doubt that the United States needs to take another look at policies and subsidies for the ethanol industry?
Unfortunately, all the publicity about the wastefulness cannot change things without Congressional action. U.S. public policy - as enacted by Congress - is part of the problem. And Congress has seemed unwilling or unable to change previous misguided decisions. Now, as Congress finally reconsiders, the corn-ethanol promoters are battling to keep the subsidies for corn producers and the corn-ethanol industry.
The ethanol industry is trying to prevent change at a difficult time. Armed troops are now protecting crops in the fields and in storage facilities in Thailand and other countries. Egypt, Haiti and several other countries have suffered bloody food riots as food prices have risen. A cyclone has threatened the food supply of more than a million people.
A perfect storm of rising oil prices, food prices and a falling dollar have made millions miserable with gnawing hunger all across the globe. Children are starving. The poorer the country, the more likely hunger is a major problem. The reason may not be just a shortage of food - not yet, anyway. That will come as the population increases and more grain-producing areas are taken out of food production. We are learning that the shortages today are caused partly by stockpiling by speculators who are waiting for grain prices to spike upward even further. This means that major retailers in New York, in areas of New England and on the West Coast are limiting purchases of flour, rice and cooking oil as demand outstrips supply. There are reports that consumers are joining speculators in hoarding grain stocks.
Look at American subsidies of ethanol as a Mexican, a Haitian or a Sri Lankan might: The U.S. looks shortsighted, self-indulgent, even arrogant. Look at the subsidies as the leader of Iran, Russia or China might: The U.S. looks foolish, decadent, even corrupt. Just when the world could use a little U.S. leadership, where is the U.S., usually the compulsive leader? Busy with a politicized boondoggle.
The connection between fuel prices and food prices cannot be doubted by serious people, despite the uncoupling efforts of the ethanol lobby. Major publications are running articles about the food crisis and ethanol's dubious value. Still, the pro-ethanol lobby fights on and attempts to keep the misguided and counterproductive subsidies in place. Because most of the lobbyists are retained by corn producers, they resist redirecting the subsidies from corn to cellulose and other non-food grasses and by-products. That is why the ethanol lobby strikes out with such fury: They are in a tough battle.
Americans want energy independence. Americans demand cheap fuel. Americans say they want to cut down on oil imports. Americans want alternative energy sources. But Americans also oppose increasing production and refining in the U.S. Many Americans oppose expansion of nuclear energy. Environmental concerns keep many fields and refineries closed or working below capacity or inefficiently. These conflicting attitudes are a recipe for disaster.
Kenneth E. Feltman is the chairman of Radnor Inc., a Washington, D.C., firm engaged in lobbying, association and legislative coalition management services, and political consulting in the USA and other countries. |
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