Ethanol--proposal for increasing content in gasoline

[yellowwood]

Midwest politicians, Democrats included, are pushing to raise the ethanol content in gasoline. Much of this is produced from corn.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKN1029043720090210?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0

Farm corporations produce so much corn that they have to get rid of it somehow. We can only eat so much of it.
Meanwhile, these corporations are rewarded with subsidies so that they continue to overproduce.

Take a look at these subsidies. You can look up individual farmers on this site, too.
http://farm.ewg.org/progdetail.php?fips=00000&progcode=corn&page=states®ionname=theUnitedStates

http://farm.ewg.org/progdetail.php?fips=00000&progcode=corn&page=conc®ionname=theUnitedStates

And just in case you buy the argument that corn ethanol reduces the use of oil, just watch these farmers till, ferilize, pesticide, herbicide their fields. Much of these substances are oil-based. And then there's the processing. Some even use airplanes to spread pesticide.

[elocs]

1. Ethanol is an oil sink and it doesn't have as much energy as gas.

So add more ethanol to a gallon of gasoline and the mpg goes down. Here in the midwest, tough, farmers absolutely love corn ethanol. Of course the production of ethanol does not do much for the water supply.

[Lance_Boyle]

2. This. Absolutely.

Make it an option for people who wish to support ConAgra and ADM's fuel divisions. For everyone else ethanol kills MPGs with no benefit at all.

We grow too much corn in this country if we have to so blatantly inefficiently burn our excess production. I can think of one crop that could take over the cornland and be used MUCH more efficiently, but some people like to get high on it's relative so it will never happen.