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Today in Biofuels Opinion: “corn farmers and ethanol producers know they are running a cruel hoax on the American consumer”

June 13, 2008

Walter E. Williams, professor of economics at George Mason University: “Ethanol is so costly that it wouldn’t make it in a free market. It’s easy to understand how the public, looking for cheaper gasoline, can be taken in by the call for increased ethanol usage. But politicians, corn farmers and ethanol producers know they are running a cruel hoax on the American consumer. They are in it for the money. The top leader in the ethanol hoax is Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), the country’s largest producer of ethanol. Ethanol producers and the farm lobby have pressured farm state congressmen into believing that it would be political suicide if they didn’t support subsidized ethanol production. That’s the stick. Campaign contributions play the role of the carrot.”

Maywa Montenegro, at grist.org: “I am blown away by the depth and scope of the nonpartisan Presidential Climate Action Project. Its centerpiece is a first-100-days plan, detailed in a 300-page report, covering issues ranging from energy policy and green collar jobs to the farm bill and ethanol subsidies to the Law of the Sea.

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    Written by Jim Lane · Filed Under Opinion 

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