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Conservation
ETHANOL
Overview
This summer's skyrocketing gas prices have dramatically demonstrated the
danger of the United States' petroleum dependency. It's time for Congress
to craft a national energy policy that promotes the use of renewable,
domestic energy sources - including corn-based ethanol.
Ethanol is already
being blended with gasoline, at levels of up to 10 percent, in many
parts of the country. The benefits are clear.
- Ethanol provides
energy security. The United States currently imports more than
50 percent of its domestic petroleum consumption - and about 80 percent
of the world's proven oil reserves are in the perennially unstable
Middle East. Plus, the planet has only a finite supply of fossil fuels.
But ethanol is a home-grown resource made from readily replaceable
agricultural feedstocks such as corn.
- Ethanol offers
substantial environmental benefits. Ethanol contains 35 percent
oxygen, which makes gasoline burn more cleanly. That's why the Clean
Air Act requires the use of oxygenated gasoline to improve air quality
in the nation's most polluted cities. But unlike the petroleum-based
oxygenate MTBE, which is fouling drinking water supplies from Maine
to California and posing substantial public health risks, ethanol
is nontoxic and biodegradable.
- Ethanol is
affordable and abundant. According to the Renewable Fuels Association,
ethanol was selling at a net cost of just 71 cents per gallon in June,
compared to the $1.24 wholesale price for a gallon of gasoline. And
ethanol supplies are the most plentiful in 20 years. The ethanol industry
has broken monthly production records every month this year and is
poised to set an all-time record for annual production.
- Ethanol is
good for farmers and rural America. Ethanol is the third-largest
market for U.S. corn (after livestock feed and exports), currently
consuming nearly 600 million bushels per year. This demand boosts
farm income by about $3 billion annually. In addition, the production
of value-added ethanol has sparked new capital investment and economic
development in rural communities across America. Nearly one million
farmers are owner-investors in cooperative, local ethanol production
facilities.
Action Needed
The nation's corn growers call on Congress to craft a rational, sustainable
national energy policy that increases the use of ethanol and other renewable
fuels.
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