Energy independence can’t be achieved easily
Published 3:00 pm Friday, May 9, 2008
The goal was laudable: lessen America’s dependence on foreign oil by using our own abundant farmland to produce more corn-based ethanol.
But in this case good intentions, along with overzealous federal policies fueled heavily by the entrenched corn lobby, have created a new mess for Congress and the next president to clean up.
Following a frenzy to jump onto the biofuels bandwagon, plenty of shortsightedness has been exposed. Federal mandates for large and rapid increases in the amount of ethanol and other biofuels to be blended into gasoline, along with clearly unnecessary tax incentives for ethanol production, have contributed to today’s higher food costs because there’s less corn available for animal feed and other food uses. And the situation threatens to get worse. There isn’t even enough farmland to meet congressional targets for a fivefold jump by 2020 in the amount of ethanol and biofuels we use.
Companies that blend ethanol get a 51-cent-per-gallon tax break, apparently intended to make ethanol more affordable by encouraging production. But with gasoline prices soaring, ethanol producers are doing just fine. A complete repeal of the tax break is called for, but the farm bill currently winding its way through Congress contemplates only a modest reduction. A 54-cent-per-gallon tariff on ethanol imports won by the corn lobby also should be repealed. Importing more ethanol from Brazil, which is producing plenty using sugar cane, could make more U.S. acres available for food production.
Congress, and the presidential candidates, need to stand up to the corn lobby and admit that mistakes were made that must now be corrected.
Clearly, America must make the hard choices required to cut its oil consumption. But leaders also need to come to grips with the fact that there is no easy solution to weaning ourselves off of oil. Investments in research into better batteries for plug-in electric hybrid cars, as well as making fuel from non-edible substances, will take time to pay off but figure to produce more sustainable solutions.
One good example came last week with the opening of a new laboratory at Washington State University’s Tri-Cities campus. It’s a collaboration between WSU and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to research the fuel potential of biomass — stuff like low-value crops, wood, garbage and other non-edible substances.
With oil at $125 a barrel and rising, and with the need to cut greenhouse gas emissions to slow global warming, the desire for quick answers is strong. But haste, as we’ve seen in the case of corn-based ethanol, can make waste. As it moves ahead on energy policy, Congress needs to be wary of “easy” answers.
