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Environment

Corn, Incorporated: The Ethanol Scam

By Nicole Colson, CounterPunch. Posted July 14, 2008.


The ethanol scam shows that corporate, market-based "solutions" to global warming and oil dependence are no solution at all.
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At first glance, it seems like common sense.

Unless you're delusional or in the pay of the energy industry, you know that the burning of fossil fuels is the primary cause of global warming and destructive climate change that is already wreaking havoc around the globe. Not to mention that fossil fuels are a limited resource, costly to extract and refine, and increasingly sought-after by competing nations.

So if a more environmentally friendly fuel could be derived from renewable plant-based sources, wouldn't it be logical to make the switch?

This is the justification for the recent boom in biofuel production in the U.S. and around the globe. Since biofuels (which can be made from corn, sugar cane, soybeans or other organic sources) are produced from "renewable resources," goes the argument, they can go a long way to helping break America from its 21-million-barrels-a-day oil habit and provide a more environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuels.

Biofuels -- especially, in the U.S., corn-derived ethanol -- are being promoted as the savior of both the planet and humankind.

Think that's an exaggeration? Check out the National Corn Growers Association's online comic book adventures of "Captain Cornelius," who uses his corn superpowers to "protect the environment." Or the association's online promotional video, a Star Wars parody in which "ethanol" is depicted as a wise Yoda-like figure, and "gasoline" is Darth Vader.

Rolling Stone quoted Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa -- "the king of ethanol hype," the magazine pointed out -- as saying "Everything about ethanol is good, good, good." But if you scratch a bit beneath the surface, ethanol stops looking quite so "good, good, good."

* * *

For one thing, although biofuels are promoted as a cure-all for an ailing environment, many scientists say that they aren't necessarily any better than traditional fossil fuels. As National Geographic reported in October:

Biofuels as currently rendered in the U.S. are doing great things for some farmers and for agricultural giants like Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill, but little for the environment.

Corn requires large doses of herbicide and nitrogen fertilizer and can cause more soil erosion than any other crop. And producing corn ethanol consumes just about as much fossil fuel as the ethanol itself replaces. Biodiesel from soybeans fares only slightly better. Environmentalists also fear that rising prices for both crops will push farmers to plow up some 35 million acres…of marginal farmland now set aside for soil and wildlife conservation, potentially releasing even more carbon bound in the fallow fields."

According to research reported last year by a team led by Nobel Prize-winning chemist Paul Crutzen, ethanol derived from corn may generate up to 50 percent more greenhouse gases than gasoline, because up to twice as much nitrous oxide may be released by the production process due to increased use of nitrogen fertilizers on corn (one of the most fertilizer-heavy crops).

In addition, in the U.S. and across the globe, forests, grasslands and other fragile ecosystems are being cleared to make way for production of corn, soybeans or other biofuel crops, causing further environmental harm.

According to one study published earlier this year in the journal Science, using a worldwide agricultural model to estimate emissions from land-use changes, researchers found that corn-based ethanol, "instead of producing a 20 percent savings in greenhouse gases, nearly doubles greenhouse emissions over 30 years and increases greenhouse gases for 167 years."

As Nature Conservancy researcher Joe Fargione told Science Daily, "If you're trying to mitigate global warming, it simply does not make sense to convert land for biofuels production. All the biofuels we use now cause habitat destruction, either directly or indirectly."

In the Midwest "Corn Belt," for example, increased corn production for ethanol has now pushed out nearly 20 million acres of soybean production. Until recently, soybeans were regularly rotated with corn crops, but many farmers are now abandoning them in order to chase the big government subsidies that now come with corn.


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See more stories tagged with: ethanol

Nicole Colson lives in Chicago, where she works as a reporter for the Socialist Worker.

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Obama is 1000% in favor of corn-based ethanol
Posted by: bthespoon on Jul 14, 2008 5:21 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
...and thinks nuclear power and coal are "clean " alternatives.

McSame is even worse.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Two examples of hype:
Posted by: jsong123 on Jul 14, 2008 5:26 AM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The notion that ethanol can save the world, and the idea that the US ethanol program drives up the cost of tortillas in Mexico City.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

en route for a Great War??
Posted by: richholland on Jul 14, 2008 5:26 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
many activities nowadays in the USA show a certain simularity to the activities in Germany preparing for a big war.

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They Will Use The Residual Cobs ...
Posted by: gazooks on Jul 14, 2008 5:34 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
... to complete the consumer reaming. The economic realities of corn based ethanol have been long known as absurd, but then Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are "sound" according to Congressional cornholers.

Investing in Vaseline may ease the pain.

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What the ethanol scam shows
Posted by: Lloyd Drako on Jul 14, 2008 6:18 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
is not the folly of "market-based 'solutions' to global warming and oil dependence," but exactly the opposite! The ethanol boom, with all its attendant unpleasant side effects, seems more the result of government subsidies for a business that would probably be too weak to stand on its own against competition from other energy sources. (Need I add, it is also the result of a political system that gives undue weight to Iowa and other places where corn is king.)

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Corn is for EATING!!!
Posted by: xvictor on Jul 14, 2008 6:31 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
and REAL sugar is preferable to corn syrup.

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Of course corn-based ethanol is bad. NOW LISTEN UP KIDDIES !!
Posted by: maxpayne on Jul 14, 2008 7:10 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I already knew that corn was the worst biofuel and saw this coming. As a matter of fact, I repeatedly sounded the alarm like many others to switch to better biofuels such as algae, switchgrass, or even hemp even if it means fighting hard as hell to TEAR DOWN ITS ILLEGAL STATUS but are people listening ?!?!? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!!!!!!!!!! It's amazing how the Far Right and the Far Left JUST DON'T GET IT ! Not all biofuels are bad. The only reason corn-based ethanol exists is the UBER-TOXIC alliance of Big Oil and Big Agri. With half the environmentalists being brainwashed and DUMB DOGGED into buying into the phoney "clean coal" myth and falling for the "nuclear reduces CO2 emissions" lie along with the spin by Big Oil/Coal/Nuclear/Gas that "solar, wind, and geothermal somehow can't meet energy demands" and with both sides very "happy" to keep Cannabis illegal, it is no wonder that

GOD WILL CONTINUE TO SEVERELY PUNISH AMERICA TO ETERNAL DAMNATION EVEN AS THIS COUNTRY AND LIKELY THE PLANET GO DOWN IN FLAMES !!!!

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Hemp..
Posted by: TJColatrella on Jul 14, 2008 9:13 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Hemp is the #1 Bio-mass plant on earth it produces more biomass per acre by far than corn and renews every 4 months also it eats CO2 like crazy and spits out lots of oxygen...it grows in every state and has so many other uses...from clothes to paper production and it produces per acre as much paper pulp as 4.1 acres of trees think about that one...

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Protect our Planet and its People
Posted by: mberg on Jul 14, 2008 9:49 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Don't expect the politicians to provide leadership. The people need get organized to move towards the change and reforms that are necessary. The civil rights movement didn't happen in a vaccuum. Don't just blame it on the SUV guzzling drivers. The United States uses 25% of the resources of the planet with only a fraction of the world's population. We are all in this together. And voting once every four years is not enough. Eisenhower, JFK and Johnson were all forced to make decisions to defend basic human rights by the direct actions of the people. What are we afraid of? Speak up, write, call and join in the call to arms to protect our planet and its people.

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anybody wants the domain ethanolscam? (no charge)
Posted by: counterpoint on Jul 14, 2008 11:14 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
A year ago after an engaging correspondence with Prof David Pimentel I decided to buy the domain ethanolscam.org .com , hoping I'd get around to building a small informational site. Alas, too many projects came in between. I've tried to donate it to UCS but the name was too slanted for their use. Go through whois.org for my contact info.

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Interesting old "new" technology promises to turn farmland into a massive carbon sink.
Posted by: jimbee on Jul 14, 2008 1:30 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
CBC podcast "Biochar - Black is the new Green" (scroll down for transcript and mp3 link)

"But to push the process through to completion would require breaking entirely with the logic of the profit system."

I get SO sick of hearing this from leftist types. Markets work quite well in most areas. This isn't about capitalism or profit--it's about political corruption, uneconomic subsidies to politically influential groups. All this Marxist claptrap just diverts people's attention from the real issue, which is that politicians are using our money to keep themselves in power regardless of the cost to others.

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Talk asbout scams!
Posted by: Dickinseattl on Jul 14, 2008 6:55 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
If we were to actually figure in all the costs for gasoline today (whats that war for oil costing us?) E-85 Ethanol at a competitive price of $2.85/gal would look like a bargin. This could be facilitated by temporarily lifting the import tarriffs on the energy independent Brazilian ethanol. We all hope to go to switchgrass with a 540% energy efficiency improvement but need to make do with what we have now until then. As for it's impact on food, that probably needs more regulation but the food problem relates more to costs which relate to commodity speculation and deregulation. Until we can get to solar battery powered hybrids, a green, renewable, american high performance (what race cars use) fuel properly regulated will do.

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» RE: Talk asbout scams! Posted by: Dboy
» RE: Talk asbout scams! Posted by: Dickinseattl
» RE: Talk asbout scams! Posted by: Dickinseattl
As if ALL biofuels were made from corn...
Posted by: JSurveyor on Jul 29, 2008 8:46 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
First of all, corn has minimal nutritional value, and secondly, the majority of biofuel companies are moving swiftly away from corn and into jatropha, switchgrass, algae, hemp, and a whole slew of non-edible, naturally grown plants, not to mention all the waste products available that can be converted into fuel. I am disappointed in so many journalists whose narrow-minded attacks on the entire biofuel industry are based on the production of corn-based ethanol. WAKE UP!

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