Comments

I do not believe the government should be involved in subsidizing ethanol and many other things. The current way we are making ethanol just does not work and would not be happening without the government making it possible for private business to make money doing it. I have been following ethanol for a few years and thought it was a good idea until it was revealed that the cost to the consumer, even with subsidies, costs more than gasoline. With the pump price at about the same price per gallon as gasoline, it still costs more because the miles per gallon drop by 1/4 to 1/3. There have been some promise of adjusting engines to do better, but probably only if straight gasoline were eliminated. I am unwilling to pay the extra for ethanol at the current prices. There are also numerous sources that report that as much energy is used to make it as is obtained from it. These reports show anywhere from -10% to +30% energy derived from making ethanol. Now, we have increased our own food costs from burning some of our own food sources. And, we are only producing a very small part of what is needed. The ethanol process also uses a huge amount of water and increases water pollution from the large amount of fertilizer required to grow corn. So, we are not reducing our oil consumption and we are not lower costs. A source revealed it would take every acer of land in the US to produce enough ethanol to replace our oil use and would leave no space to grow our food! Now, I am not completely opposed to ethanol, just making it from our food supply. There have been promising alternative sources to make it, anywhere from corn stalks and swithchgrass to algae. Maybe the federal dollars would be much better spent on researching other forms to produce ethanol?