Letter

My Comments:

“The ethanol/biodiesel fuel industry is one of the greatest disasters of our time.”

Wow, and I would call it one of the greatest success stories of our time.  It has doubled production in the last two years, overcoming an entrenched oligopoly to do that.

“90 million US acres of corn in 2007 has come at the expense of many other crops and protected lands such as wetlands.”

Actually, it was 93.6 million acres and we know exactly what it came at the expense of and that was 11.8 million acres of soybeans and 4.4 million acres of cotton and.  Despite other claims that corn is displacing food crops, acreage of wheat and barley (directly used for food consumption) also increased this year. There is absolutely no indication of “protected” lands being planted in corn and how could it be if it is “protected”?

“The prices of corn and sugar doubled and are pressing up prices of many other foods affecting billions of the world’s hungry.”

Neither the price of corn nor sugar has doubled. According to the USDA, the season average price of a bushel of corn for 2006 was $3.04 and for sugar was 22.14 cents per pound, and for 2007 corn is $3.60 and sugar 21.19 cents per pound. I may be slow at math, but I am sure that is not a doubling.  And our exports are projected to be a record high this year. As for the “billions” of the world’s hungry, the number is well below 1 billion, according to respected world hunger organizations.

“Six gallons of water are used to produce one gallon of ethanol.”

The number is actually half that, and on its way toward 1 gallon, substantially lower than the water used to produce a gallon of gasoline.  And it took about 185 gallons of water to produce the single Sunday edition of the Post Dispatch his letter appeared in.

“The 15 billion gallons ethanol per year proposed by the Senate (half the current corn acreage) threatens severe water shortages.”

Less than 15 percent of the US corn crop is irrigated. The more-than-85 percent that is not actually puts more water into the atmosphere than the irrigated portion takes.  The U.S. corn crop will have very little if any impact on available water in the U.S.  And, actually 15 billion gallons of ethanol is targeted in the Senate Bill for 2015 and will take a third or less of corn acres.

“Ethanol plants are among the worst polluters.”

As compared to oil refineries and oil tankers? Ethanol plants are regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. But even more important to consider is the fact that ethanol adds oxygen to gasoline—improving combustion and reducing toxic exhaust emissions. Adding ethanol to gasoline also dilutes the potency of these toxic chemicals—and greenhouse gas emissions.

“Agrofuels may contribute more to global warming than petroleum.”

This one is easy, the key word is “may” if you make the right assumptions.  The reality is that agrofuels are a huge positive in the battle against global warming.  The Senate Bill referenced in the letter calls for the 15 billion gallons to meet a 20 percent reduction in greenhouse gasses as compared to petroleum and calls for biofuels beyond that time frame to achieve a 50 percent reduction.

“The Times reported that Biofuels generate about 60 percent more greenhouse effects than fossil fuels because of nitrous oxide…”

Actually what the Times reported was from a study that had the word “could” in it. That report focused on unique situations where nitrous oxide could be released to the atmosphere, but also laid out production practices that would mitigate or eliminate.  It was not

“…a gallon of ethanol has less energy than a gallon of gas…”

True, but most ethanol is used as a 10% blend where it has no negative impact on mileage and E-85, where a mileage penalty can be seen, generally sells for 40-60 cents a gallon less than regular unleaded, offsetting the mileage penalty.

Ethanol …”will have no impact on fossil fuel consumption.”

Flat wrong. Even the most ardent critics have to admit that the nearly 8 billion gallons of ethanol we will consume this year in the U.S. is a direct one for one replacement for petroleum. If that were not true, why would the oil industry be fighting Biofuels?  Look at Brazil. Their consumption of gasoline has declined in direct relation to their increase in ethanol consumption.