I see ethanol's underpants

WHY?! It does not surprise as much as disappoint me that the EPA has decided not to ease requirements for ethanol use in gas production. It is no secret that the EPA has been rendered almost irrelevant and powerless under Bush. Unless McCain takes the White House, which seems unlikely given the numerous prediction models my co-author has mentioned, it seems almost impossible that ethanol subsidies will be cut any time soon given the EPA's weakness and the fact that "energy security" is the catchphrase of the moment.

For those of you who may be confused by why we here at Zeitgeist think ethanol is such a bad idea let me offer a few points.

1) Ethanol is not really energy efficient (and we've known for years!). The amount of fossil fuel required to produce ethanol is more than the actual ethanol output. This renders the rest of my points moot, but just in case...

2) Ethanol production is a huge factor behind the recent rises in global food prices (and we've known this for years too!). The diversion of corn to ethanol production has limited supply at a time when this is certainly not needed, thus driving up the price. The fact that our own protectionist policies contribute to hunger probably did not help our attempts to get China and India to liberalize their trade policies at Doha.

3) It is not sustainable! Corn is an extremely erosive crop. Though already planted on a wide scale, farmers trying to get a piece of the rising food prices and government subsidies have started planting even more. This has a host of environmental ramifications, mainly to do with water scarcity and increasing fertilizer use.

4) The subsidies are wasting valuable time and money for all Americans. Not only has ethanol not lowered prices at the pump, it diverts huge tax sums from "second-gen" biofuels and other renewable energy sources that actually need the investment and offer some glint of hope.

It's no surprise that Obama supports ethanol. He's from Illinois after all. But coupled with his talk on NAFTA his position is not exactly encouraging and almost makes McCain attractive. If only he wasn't so damn old!