By H. JOSEF HEBERT
May 7, 2008
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/sfl-flzethanol0507sbmay07,0,1342007.story
Just months ago, ethanol was the Holy Grail to energy independence and
a "green fuel" that would help nudge the country away from climate
changing fossil energy.
Democrats and Republicans cheered its benefits as Congress directed a fivefold
increase in ethanol use as a motor fuel. President Bush called it key to his
strategy to cut gasoline use by 20 percent by 2010.
But now with skyrocketing food costs — even U.S. senators are complaining about
seeing shocking prices at the supermarket — and hunger spreading across the
globe, some lawmakers are wondering if they made a mistake.
"Our enthusiasm for corn ethanol deserves a second look. That's all I'm
saying, a second look," said Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif.,
at a House hearing Tuesday where the impact of ethanol on soaring food costs
was given a wide airing.
The dramatic reversal has stunned ethanol producers and its supporters in
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, one of the Senate's two working farmers and a
longtime ethanol booster, said he finds it hard to believe that ethanol could
be "clobbered the way it's being clobbered right now" over the issue
of food costs. What does the cost of corn have to do
with the price of wheat or rice, he is telling people.
The uproar over ethanol is clearly gaining momentum.
Two governors — Texas and Connecticut — and 26 senators, including the GOP's
presumptive presidential nominee John McCain, are asking the Environmental
Protection Agency to cut this year's mandate for 9 billion gallons of corn
ethanol in half to ease, they say, food costs.
Robert Meyers, an EPA deputy assistant administrator, told a House hearing
Tuesday the agency will respond to the request as quickly as possible, but
doubts anything will be forthcoming for about three months. There's a
regulatory process to follow, he said.
But lawmakers, even those who enthusiastically supported the requirement for
refiners to ramp up ethanol use to 36 billion gallons a year by 2022 from about
7 billion gallons last year, have begun to have qualms.
"Corn ethanol was presented as an almost Holy Grail solution," said
Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pa. "But I believe its negatives today far outweigh its
benefits. We need to revisit this ... and back away from the food to fuel
policy."
Rep. Joe Barton of