Ethanol Craze Cools as Doubts Multiply

Washington DC November 27, 2007; The AIADA newsletter reported that a little over a year ago, ethanol backers were promising greater U.S. energy independence and fewer greenhouse gases.

Today, critics of ethanol blame it for pushing up food prices, question its environmental bona fides, and dispute how much it really helps reduce the need for oil.

A study coauthored by Nobel-prize-winning chemist Paul Crutzen said corn ethanol might exacerbate climate change as the added fertilizer used to grow corn raised emissions of nitrous oxide. In additions, the Agriculture Department projects that by 2010, less than 8% of the U.S. gasoline supply will come from corn-based ethanol - and 30% of the corn crop will be used to make it.

A recent study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development concluded that biofuels "offer a cure [for oil dependence] that is worse than the disease." The Wall Street Journal reports that the fuel lobby is pleading with Congress to drastically boost the amount of ethanol that oil refiners must blend into gasoline.

But opponents such as the livestock, packaged-food, and oil industries also have lawmakers' ears. What once looked like a slam-dunk could now languish in pending energy legislation that might not pass for weeks, if ever.