Corn-based ethanol isnt all its cracked up to be, the media are
finding out now. But for years, conservative critics have criticized
ethanol as an energy alternative panacea.
With gas prices nearing $3 a gallon and oil topping $70
a barrel, network newscasts in the past week have looked at how new
federal requirements for ethanol additives in gasoline are actually
adding to the price at the pump.
On the April 11 World News Tonight and Nightly
News, ABCs Dean Reynolds and NBCs Kevin Tibbles respectively
reported that transport problems for ethanol combined with a low
supply were driving up gasoline prices.
CBSs Wyatt Andrews issued a similar report a week
later on the April 18 Evening News citing the Energy Departments
March warning that because of transport problems, ethanol, which is
already blended into a third of the gas supply, could actually raise
gas prices this summer.
But while ethanols problems are news to the media,
conservative critics of ethanol subsidies have pointed out the fuel
additives deficiencies for years.
On April 8, 2005, The Heritage Foundations
Ben
Lieberman warned that ethanol sales have not grown quickly enough to satisfy
the ethanol industry or its allies in Congress. Lieberman warned
that an ethanol mandate being debated in the Senate would raise the
cost of gasoline, running against the original purpose of the energy
bill.
[T]he only reason ethanol needs federal help from
taxpayer subsidies, Lieberman noted, is that it is too expensive to
compete on its own. Whether 5 billion, 6 billion, or 8 billion
gallons, an ethanol mandate would mean significant cost increases
for the driving public.
The American Enterprises
Blake Dvorak
similarly warned against ethanol as a solution for high gas prices
in a Dec. 9, 2003, article, calculating the heavy cost of production
and the energy wasted in developing the alternative fuel source.
Using research by Cornell University scientist David
Pimentel, Dvorak calculated that To plant, grow, and harvest the
corn takes about 140 gallons of fossil fuel and costs about $347 per
acre, while even before the corn is converted to ethanol, the
feedstock alone costs $0.69 per gallon of ethanol.
More importantly, Dvorak wrote that about 29 percent
more energy is required to produce a gallon of ethanol than is
stored in that gallon in the first place.
Ethanols Role in Higher Gasoline Prices Not News
April 21st, 2006 2:00 PM
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