Corn Ethanol is Not the Solution for Biofuels, Environmental Group Reports

In a new report by the Network for Energy Choices (NEC), they posit that corn ethanol will not be the solution to the energy crisis that the country faces and it will not benefit the average American farmer.

The report authored in collaboration with two other organizations, the Food & Water Watch and the Vermont Law School Institute for Energy and the Environment, comprised a synopsis of the current literature and the socioeconomic consequences of utilizing corn ethanol as a considerable substitute for oil.

In the study, the authors emphasized that they are convinced that rural communities will not receive any benefit from the 2007 Farm Bill. As per the NEC press release, Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food and Water Watch stated that "in the long run, family farmers and the environment will be losers, while agribusiness, whose political contributions are fueling the ethanol frenzy, will become the winner."

The report highlighted that all fuels should not be considered equal. It underscored the premise that corn is now being used to produce 95% of the ethanol in the U.S. and therefore it is the only viable ethanol resource to be able to qualify for refinery subsidies in the proposed Farm Bill. Unfortunately, the report maintains that corn is the least sustainable of all raw materials for biofuel feedstock.

The assessment also emphasized that the capacity of corn ethanol to compensate for all fossil fuel needs in the U.S. is not realistic. According to their data, corn ethanol would only be able to provide for 15% of the gasoline demand.

They authors stressed that the focus should really be on increasing auto fuel efficiency. In the report, they stated that modest improvements in auto fuel efficiency, as defined as increasing just 1 mile per gallon of productivity in all vehicles, would reduce oil usage more so than all alternative fuels and replacement fuels combined.