Ethanol And Politics - How Ethanol Bought It's Way Into Our Lives!

The Ethanol Scam: One Of America's Biggest Political Boondoggles
By Jeff Goodell, From Issue 1032 of Rolling Stone

NOTE: Below is only an excerpt, but you can read the whole article by clicking the link above.

"The ethanol boondoggle is largely a tribute to the political muscle of a single company: agribusiness giant Archer Daniels Midland. In the 1970s, looking for new ways to profit from corn, ADM began pushing ethanol as a fuel additive. By the early 1980s, ADM was producing 175 million gallons of ethanol a year. The company's then-chairman, Dwayne Andreas, struck up a close relationship with Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas, a.k.a. "Senator Ethanol." During the 1992 election, ADM gave $1 million to Dole and his friends in the GOP (compared with $455,000 to the Democrats). In return, Dole helped the company secure billions of dollars in subsidies and tax breaks. In 1995, the conservative Cato Institute, estimating that nearly half of ADM's profits came from products either subsidized or protected by the federal government, called the company "the most prominent recipient of corporate welfare in recent U.S. history."

Today, ADM is the leading producer of ethanol, supplying more than 1 billion gallons of the fuel additive last year. Ethanol is propped up by more than 200 tax breaks and subsidies worth at least $5.5 billion a year. And ADM continues to give back: Since 2000, the company has contributed $3.7 million to state and federal politicians."
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I had always suspected either lobbyist or politicians with profits in their eyes to blame this ethanol scam on. I am glad this article exists, and I only wish that more reporters had the stones to write like this more often.

Ethanol's Inconvenient Truth

Corn as fuel has hurt world food supply

BY ANDY KIMBRELL |Andy Kimbrell is founder and executive director of the nonprofit Center for Food Safety.

June 20, 2008 - Off from newsday.com

NOTE: Below is only an excerpt, but you can read the whole article by clicking the link above.

"First among these is what we've learned about biofuels. Once considered the "green" solution to foreign oil dependence, corn ethanol has morphed into a humanitarian and environmental disaster. Diverting one-quarter of America's massive corn harvest from food to fuel has nearly crippled the globalized food system. A bushel of corn fetches about three times the price it did two years ago, one big reason for quadrupling tortilla prices in Mexico. Wheat and soybean farmers, lured by higher profits, switched over to corn. As a result, supplies of those crops are limited and wheat prices have risen an astronomical 130 percent since 2007, exacerbated by poor Australian harvests.

If you thought corn ethanol was at least lessening our dependence on foreign oil, think again: Ethanol displaces only 3 percent of our oil use. Additionally, the journal "Science" recently published research suggesting that biofuels are worsening global warming as well as hunger. High demand for energy crops is driving deforestation, which in turn releases huge amounts of greenhouse gases that far exceed minor reductions provided by the energy crops themselves."
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This is a well written article. The above quote is only a sample of a well argued overall theme of lessons learned by us (humans) trying to throw vast amounts of money into research and development of "the quick fix" versus addressing the root of the problems.

It reminds me of a recent story in the news that after Al Gore got so much attention from his "An Inconvenient Truth" it was leaked that his household uses up enough energy to power like 20 houses. In the spotlight, he has spent several thousands of dollars to "Green" up his house. Including solar panels and other alternative and efficient energy methods. Only to end up a year later actually using MORE than he did previously without the "greening" of his home. Boy, Al, I bet THAT'S an inconvenient truth you wish wasn't given as much fanfare...


"Al Gore's mansion uses more than twice the electricity in one month than the average household does in an entire year." - Al Gore's Own Inconvenient Truth

Turning Waste Into Fuel

Hoover's Mayor Petelos appears on Fox Business Network to discuss alternative fuels

Posted by Mike Cason -- Birmingham News June 18, 2008 6:16 PM

Hoover Mayor Tony Petelos made about a five-minute appearance on the Fox Business Network this afternoon to discuss the city's goal of sending yard waste from residents to a new ethanol plant in Livingston.

Petelos, who appeared about 5:30 p.m. on the network by live remote from the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center, was interviewed by Neil Cavuto of the Fox network.

Gulf Coast Energy has announced it will build a demonstration plant in Livingston to convert wood waste into ethanol. The company hopes to eventually open a commercial-scale plant.

Petelos also talked about the city's production of biodiesel from recycled cooking oil and its use of ethanol in city vehicles.
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I wish that there were more stories like this one. I feel that ethanol is not going to solve any problems, but I have no issues with them making it from waste versus the Government mandating 1/3 of our corn crops to the production of it.

Not that making it from waste is going to make it any more efficient, or any better in my opinion. And, I am not sure what the footprint is from making ethanol from waste, it might be higher or lower than crude to oil production. But I know that it is higher producing ethanol from corn.

I just feel better eliminating waste to create ethanol. It doesn't make ethanol any better, like I said, I just feel less panicked.

The Consumer Takes The Hit Again

Cereal, Sugar, Poultry Price Gains to Top Forecasts
-By Alan Bjerga on http://Bloomberg.com - June 19, 2008

NOTE: Below is only an excerpt, but you can read the whole article by clicking the link above.

"Retailers are passing along higher prices to consumers as global demand for food boosts U.S. exports, production is disrupted by harsh weather and more crops are used to make fuel, the USDA said. Corn, wheat, soybeans and rice have reached records this year, while beef, pork and chicken prices rallied.

While the department left its estimate of overall food-price inflation unchanged at 4.5 percent to 5.5 percent, the June revisions ``imply that we are in a higher part of the range now,'' USDA food economist Ephraim Leibtag said yesterday in an e-mail. ``Fuel, transportation and energy costs'' caused the most recent revisions, he said."

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As much as I hate to say this, this site is going to be easy to maintain. As the future moves forward, more and more articles like this is going to be in papers and the news on a daily basis. In addition, I believe they are going to find things out about ethanol that we are not even aware of yet. It may not be as impactful as say, asbestos, but all the same...

How Flooding Affects Your Pocket!

Another gas, grocery shock: How flooding will cost you

by Emily Gersema - Jun. 18, 2008 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

NOTE: Below is only an excerpt, but you can read the whole article by clicking the link above.

"Iowa is one of the top growing states for corn, harvesting about 2 billion bushels per year, according to the Iowa Corn Growers Association.

Illinois, another big corn state, also has suffered some flooding.

A tight supply of corn spells trouble for everyone from the farm to the table.

Reynolds said farmers nationwide will have to pay more for feed to raise their livestock, giving rise to higher meat and poultry prices.

Processed foods made from corn, soybeans or other Midwestern crops also will increase in price.

The hit will also be coming at the gas pumps.

Opponents of the federal assistance program for renewable fuels have been blaming ethanol plants for buying up most of the nation's corn harvest to make biofuels, driving up animal feed and food prices."
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I have been waiting for this news to surface soon. I have friends who told me how bad the flooding really was in Iowa, forcing some to leave their farms. The picture sort of says it all.

So, here we are...we were going to be hurting anyways with this years crop of corn, this year being the possible first time in history the US would have to import to keep up with demand. Now with the 2 largest producing States under water, what does the future hold?

At what point does corn prices per bushel exceed the threshold making Ethanol just as expensive, or dare I say it, more expensive than regular gasoline.

Makes me sort of wish that we kept our reserves that we sent over to help the victims of the flooding over in Asia that just stayed on the boats, waiting possibly rotting while their leaders decide whether or not they are going to allow outside aide.

Texas Chimes In - Longhorns A Hurtin'

Editorial: Gas or food?
- 09:33 AM CDT on Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Unknown Author - The Dallas News.Com

NOTE: Below is only an excerpt, but you can read the whole article by clicking the link above.

"On Monday, corn futures flirted with $8 a bushel, an all-time record, and almost four times what corn was going for only two years ago. Because corn, in the form of corn syrup, is in so many food products in the American pantry, consumers are going to be hit hard at the supermarket.

High corn prices also translate into higher beef prices, as cattlemen struggle to feed their herds.

Which brings us to ethanol. Government economists say the domestic ethanol industry, heavily subsidized by the taxpayer, will consume a third of all the corn produced this year. It once made sense to incentivize farmers to grow corn for fuel; those days are gone."
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Other than the occasional spelling mistake, this editorial seemed to echo the grumblings being heard from the Texas farming community. At first they were supportive of the whole ethanol efforts. But as floods and futures are looking dim, they are suddenly realizing the impact that is going to have at home.

Funny how people are all for something until it actually affects them...

It Is All Related, Feul Affects Nearly Everything

Gas costs are reflected in nearly everything you buy
- 12:35 AM CDT on Sunday, June 15, 2008

By ELIZABETH SOUDER / The Dallas Morning News

NOTE: Below is only an excerpt, but you can read the whole article by clicking the link above.

"I don't buy barrels of oil. So how does the price of oil affect me?

Everybody knows that oil is refined into the gasoline and diesel that fuels our vehicles. People might forget that plastics also come from oil. So when oil prices rise, you pay more at the pump and it costs more to transport goods. Plus, it costs more to manufacture anything made from or packaged in plastic. That covers just about everything Americans buy."


"What about corn prices, which are much higher? Is that because of oil?

There is an indirect connection. About 25 percent of the U.S. corn crop is going into corn-based ethanol – up from 11.5 percent in 2003. A key reason for increased ethanol production is the goal of reducing dependence on foreign oil, and cutting greenhouse-gas emissions. Rising ethanol production and increased demand for animal feed in developing nations help push up the price of corn."
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Not strictly about ethanol or E85, but it is a very good article about how everything is connected in the fuel versus food continuing battle.

Now This I Could Live With

Checkbiotech.org, June 12, 2008

Alabama plant to begin producing ethanol from waste wood

NOTE: Below is only an excerpt, but you can read the whole article by clicking the link above.

"June 12, 2008

LIVINGSTON, Alab. - In a cavernous, abandoned lumber mill in the Black Belt, a small team of engineers and technicians is assembling a demonstration plant that, as early as this month, will start turning wood scraps into ethanol.

The plant would be one of the first in the country to use a technology called gasification on wood waste. Most ethanol and biodiesel plants use fermentation to turn soybeans or corn into fuel.

If the plant runs as advertised, the company - Gulf Coast Energy - plans to expand on the site with a $90 million commercial-scale plant, which it says will be capable of producing 45 million gallons of ethanol a year."
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If ethanol was produced from waste, I would then consider it a more viable solution. That would be, of course, if the cost to produce it didn't have a larger foot print nor cost more than the value.

I have also heard of them experimenting with human sewage.