American Ethanol Industry Serves No Useful Purpose

[dharma]

(Sort of an expansion of this thread: http://thisbluemarble.com/showthread...highlight=gore).

Al Gore concedes. "Now that a modern-day patron saint—St. Al of Green—has come out against the fuel made from corn and your tax dollars, maybe [killing ethanol subsidies] isn't such a lost cause."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...leTabs=article

Here's the real kicker for all the intellectual midgets who actually believed the lying, thieving, corrupt, scumbag bastard, per "Crucible401":

If the US was serious about using Ethanol as a "green" fuel (rather than a massive scam courtesy of the Corn Lobby) they'd ban corn based in a nano second and import much cheaper (and truly green) cane ethanol from Brazil. That would drop corn prices over night giving consumers a triple benefit - lower food prices, lower fuel prices and a greener planet.

But what did we really do? Not only did we give hugely generous subsidies to produce a fuel that was anything but "green", we added tariffs to keep out the only truly "green" ethanol from sugarcane in Brazil. Only in America could such a blatant scam be marketed as "green" with straight faces from the Pols and the so-called "scientists" and "environmentalists".

Got to hand it to these charlatans. Engineered a huge transfer of wealth to the Farm Belt, all the while being lauded for being "green". It would be laughable if it weren't so scandalous.

You heard it here on TBM first, folks, about two years ago (and well before that, if you were on the old board).

[gsgs]

I do remember that one yearly address to the nation by Bush
(or how it is called) which was almost entirely about
that ethanole thing
(while we were expecting something about the
threatening pandemic)

[Potemkin]

Al Gore concedes. "Now that a modern-day patron saint—St. Al of Green—has come out against the fuel made from corn and your tax dollars, maybe [killing ethanol subsidies] isn't such a lost cause."

If the US was serious about using Ethanol as a "green" fuel (rather than a massive scam courtesy of the Corn Lobby) they'd ban corn based in a nano second and import much cheaper (and truly green) cane ethanol from Brazil. That would drop corn prices over night giving consumers a triple benefit - lower food prices, lower fuel prices and a greener planet.

The people who are against corn ethanol, subsidy or not, will also be against ethanol from sugar cane.

If you began tomorrow, the day after that they would be talking about how unethical it is to grow sugar cane for fuel while the same production capacity could be used to grown "nutritious food".

If you pointed out we are a net exporter of staples then they would say we have an ethical responsibility to give it away free. (Oh BTW, we also want it shipped free to the foreign country.)

The other tactic they would use would be to blame sugar cane ethanol for higher sugar prices. Not just in the bag but with all kinds of processed foods.

Importing ethanol isn't a good idea either. We would still be dependent on a foreign government.

[dharma]

Originally Posted by Potemkin

The people who are against corn ethanol, subsidy or not, will also be against ethanol from sugar cane.

I don't see why. EROEI on sugar cane ethanol is positive (about 4 to 1, as I recall).

Originally Posted by Potemkin

If you began tomorrow, the day after that they would be talking about how unethical it is to grow sugar cane for fuel while the same production capacity could be used to grown "nutritious food".

Who is this "they"? Putting words in people's mouths, no?

Perhaps this will be an argument for a few, but everyone I know who hates ethanol has similar primary reasons: it's a huge waste of taxpayer money, American topsoil, and the internals of our cars. It doesn't work.

Originally Posted by Potemkin

The other tactic they would use would be to blame sugar cane ethanol for higher sugar prices.

That's silly. The reason for high sugar prices is the US government's 100% tariff on foreign sugar (yet another payoff to the farm states). Brazilian production is doing just fine.

Originally Posted by Potemkin

Importing ethanol isn't a good idea either. We would still be dependent on a foreign government.

As opposed to making ethanol with imported petroleum? You do see the logical problem here, right?