The Ethanol Hoax
Climate Change:
Corn to ethanol is big business. The Federal Government pays ethanol producers 50 cents for every gallon of ethanol they produce. Corn farmers are riding a boom in corn prices not seen in their lifetimes. All sorts of groups, consortiums, corporations, and communities are trying to get on the gravy train.
And for what? Ethanol production, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, will make us 3.7% less dependent on imported oil by the year 2017. Wow. These figures only use oil as an input in the production and ignore the use of natural gas to produce the additional fertilizer demand from increased corn production. And, an increase in corn production there will be.
In the 1970’s the major agricultural colleges like the University of Illinois were telling farmers to tear out their fence rows and plant every square inch of ground they could. With prices high, as they are now farmers will be looking for more square inches to plant in corn. The result will only be more environmental destruction.
The Department of Agriculture’s statements about ethanol ignore the myriad inputs of fossil fuels. These include, but, are not limited to, the use of fossil fuels to produce the fertilizers and the seed to grow a crop, the use of fossil fuels to transport the crop, and clean up the aftermath of production such as wastewater disposal. Taking these factors into account the figures indicate ethanol production consumes six times the energy it produces.
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