The Biofuels Backlash - Opinion

SEE ALSO: Video of John McCain's Alt Fuel Keynote Speech at 2007 Clean Cities Congress

Washington DC May 7, 2008; The Wall Street Journal editorial team couldn't be happier that the world is suddenly awakening to the folly of subsidized biofuels. And all it took was a mere global "food crisis."

Last week chief economist Joseph Glauber of the USDA blamed biofuels for increasing prices on corn and soybeans. Mr. Glauber also predicted that corn prices will continue their historic rise because of demand from "expanding use for ethanol."

Even Lester Brown, one of the original eco-Apostles, wrote in the Washington Post that "it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that food-to-fuel mandates have failed." Corn ethanol can now join the scare over silicone breast implants and the pesticide Alar as among the greatest scams of the age.

The results include distorted investment decisions, higher carbon emissions, higher food prices for Americans, and an emerging humanitarian crisis in the developing world. As usual, Congress is the last to know, but maybe even it is catching on.

Credit goes to John McCain, the first presidential candidate in recent memory who has refused to bow before King Ethanol. Mr. McCain and 24 other Senators are now urging EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson to consider using his broad waiver authority to eliminate looming biofuel mandates.

To read the full editorial, click here.

SEE ALSO: Video of John McCain's Alt Fuel Keynote Speech at 2007 Clean Cities Congress