Today in Biofuels Opinion: “the federal government’s wholehearted embrace of biofuels may be based on false premises”

April 28, 2008

The Ottawa Citizen editorializes: “Using food to produce fuel is hardly a crime against humanity…But credible economists like Princeton’s Paul Krugman do fear that corn-based ethanol production is “a really bad policy.”…Biofuel production alone has not created the food crisis. Other factors, such as higher demand for grain to feed livestock in China, a multi-year drought in Australia and market speculation have all contributed. Still, the federal government’s wholehearted embrace of biofuels may be based on false premises. Ensuring that southern Ontario farmland remains committed to food production rather than biofuel production is not in itself going to help feed the world’s hungry, but it is a step in the right direction.

The Executive Intelligence Review wrote: “On Aug. 4, 1994, Al Gore cast the crucial vote which set the United States on the road to taking food out of the mouths of millions, by using food for fuel. His vote…to break a 50-50 tie…killed an anti-ethanol measure sponsored by two Democratic Senators, Bill Bradley of New Jersey and Bennett Johnston of Louisiana…The New York Times reported, “With a tie-breaking vote by Vice President Al Gore, the Senate today … voted 51-50 to table an amendment that would have denied financing to the [Environmental Protection Agency] to carry out a rule guaranteeing renewable fuels a 15% share of the lucrative fuel oxygenate market in 1995…Speaking Dec. 1, 1998 at the Third Annual Farm Journal Conference, Gore said, “I was also proud to stand up for the ethanol tax exemption when it was under attack in the Congressâ€”at one point, supplying a tie-breaking vote in the Senate to save it.”

Today in Biofuels: Ethanol tax credit to drop to 45 cents in US; Brazil’s president says “Stop your hypocrisy” over tariffs; Peru attacks foreign ethanol, OKs local plant

Top Story:In Washington, the tax credit for ethanol is ready to drop from 51 cents per gallon to 45 cents and a special tax credit will be developed for second-generation biofuels, after a compromise ...

Today in Biofuels Opinion: “Lavishing federal subsidies on a food-based fuel…is insane and morally bankrupt.”

An editorial in the Salt Lake City Tribune: "Lavishing federal subsidies on a food-based fuel that accounts for 20 percent of the rise in world food prices, harms the environment, and takes nearly as ...

US state governments buying flex-fuel cars to avoid using…alternative fuels; exploiting loophole in federal law that requires alt energy vehicles, but not alt energy fuels

Using a loophole in federal law, states are buying flex-fuel cars in order to avoid using alternative fuels. More than 2,200 cars and light trucks have been purchased by the New Jersey state govern...

Today in Biofuels Opinion: “Domestically produced fuels bring jobs and money back to our communities”

From the Tucson Citizen (Colleen Crowinshield, Clean Cities manager for the Pima Association of Governments): "Did you know that an average of one farmer a day retires due to lack of crop demand? Does...

Today in Biofuels Opinion: “Who cares about the environment? Am I going to have a house next week?”

Fred Weiss, a carbon offset seller based: "People still come to the site, but where you used to get people signing up [for offsets] every day, now you’d be lucky to get a few people a week: [people ...

Today in Biofuels Opinion: “10 Things to Know About Biden and Energy”

In the Minneapolis Star-Tribune: "To gauge Wall Street's opinion of ethanol, look no further than VeraSun Energy. Of the 19 analysts who have recommendations on the stock, five had "buys," two had "se...

Written by Jim Lane · Filed Under Opinion