Biofuel Subsidies Are a Waste of Taxpayer Money

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As a representative for Growth Energy and an ethanol advocate, I would like to dispute your assumption that biofuel subsidies are a waste of taxpayer money. Biofuels and specifically ethanol currently represent America’s only commercially viable alternative to foreign oil. Last year, America exported 326 billion dollars importing foreign oil. With gas prices approaching record highs this summer, now is not the time to eliminate biofuel subsidies. America needs to continuously invest in a variety of alternative energy sources, including biofuels, so OPEC can’t curtail our economic recovery.
America’s investment in ethanol has produced a valuable rate of return. In 2010 alone, the ethanol industry reduced farm subsidy payments by $10.1 billion, added $53.6 billion to the economy and reduced gas prices by $34.5 billion. In April 2011, Iowa State University published a study that found ethanol reduced pump prices by 25 cents a gallon over the last decade.
Furthermore, the ethanol tax incentive no longer exists, though Big Oil continues to take millions in subsidies every year.
Oil is a finite resource that is getting dirtier, costlier and riskier to extract. If we truly want financial relief at the pump, let’s give consumers a choice between foreign oil and domestic ethanol. I’m confident Americans will pick the cleaner, greener renewable fuel that is better for our economy, environment, and national security every time.

Darren Johnson of DC 2:21PM February 17, 2012

Fossil fuels will run out. We will need a source of power for our means of production and transportation. That source will have to be renewable. Let's be ahead of the game.
That last paragraph is rich coming from an organization funded by big oil and the like.

Gilbert of IL 10:25AM February 17, 2012

The United States Minerals Management Service, which manages and supervises offshore drilling, did a study and found that offshore drilling had a “minimal” effect on the environment.
Further, UCSB has done studies and found that drilling actually decreases the amount of “natural” seepage coming up through the ocean floor.
This natural seepage was estimated at between 100 and 150 barrels of crude oil per day in the Santa . John Romero, former spokesman for the Minerals and Managment Service stated, “What the (oil) industry has lost in the last 30 years is the equivalent of what is lost naturally in one week.” Imagine for a moment what that means on a global scale.
To add to these facts here are a couple of “common sense” personal observations; Sea life thrives around the platforms. The ecosystem on and around the pilings is diverse . Literally millions of marine creatures make their homes under these platforms. In comparison, the teeming undersea life of the platforms makes the adjacent “natural” sea bottom appear almost a barren desert.
Do Enviromentalists have any concept of the millions of gallons of oil and fuel and millions of tons of explosives and chemicals spilled into the sea during every month of WWII? Do they consider the thousands of ships and thousands of planes that sank into the world’s oceans over that 6 year period? Do they know that 77 Japanese ships were sunk in Truk Lagoon over a two day period in 1944 and all these ships carried varying amounts of ;fuel oil, crude oil, chemicals and explosives. And that today, despite , what today would be called an “environmental calamity”, Truk Lagoon has one of the most diverse underwater ecosystems in the world and has been the world’s premier dive site for decades? All this in spite of the fact that oil still seeps from the old warships and covers the lagoon with it’s sheen.
Disregarding facts as blasphemy, the Environmentalists litigate, legislate and propagandize against nearly every form of human endeavor, hunting, fishing, oil drilling, dam construction, housing, mining, farming, automobiles, camping, ranching, boating, road building, nuclear power, just about anything you can think of. To the true believer everything mankind does is evil and industry is the handmaiden of Satan.
The truth of the matter is simple, the Environmental Movement no longer cares about truth and facts. They have replaced honest science and research with eco-correct dogma. And instead of an honest exchange of ideas they chant their “eco-elite” montras and slogans.
In short Environmentalism has transformed itself into a religion - The Church of Universal Environmental Purity. If your not a member you must be promoting dirty water and air, and are certainly a destroyer of our planet. You can almost hear them chant, “Cast out the non-believers for they are damned!"
If we, as a nation, don’t wake up soon we may find ourselves being led backward - green banners flying - to the caves.

R.L. Schaefer of CA 10:11PM February 16, 2012

Wars for oil are a waste of taxpayer money

brotherkenny of PA 4:17PM February 16, 2012

- It would be great if we had switched focus from commodity corn as the (inefficient) source of biofuels earlier in the game...
- It would be great if cellulosic fuel technologies were advancing rapidly and cheaply...
- It would be great if nuclear power was cheap and safe, or if another silver bullet source of energy were to be developed...
- It would even be great if we had unlimited oil/coal/natural gas, and burning them had only benign environmental impacts. Then the fossil fuel economy could go on forever.
Unfortunately, none of the above has happened. We are the frog in a pot that is coming to boil. The easy path is to continue to burn ancient sunlight. But if we don't invest in the costly process of developing new energy technologies and using them efficiently, we are likely to be cooked. Scientists can't tell us if it will be tomorrow or the next day, but predict it will be in the very foreseable future.

James Kerler of WI 11:53AM February 16, 2012