Outside view: Growing concerns

The following editorial appeared April 15 in the Kansas City Star.

Corn-based ethanol is not a cure-all for what ails America’s energy markets. As gasoline blended with ethanol becomes more widely available, problems associated with it are becoming more visible and worrisome.

For instance, corn prices have risen as demand has gone up in recent months. That’s in part because the federal government, Missouri and other states have encouraged the use of ethanol. But how will higher prices change potential production and consumption of ethanol?

More water, pesticides and land are being used to grow corn for ethanol, raising environmental concerns. It takes a lot of energy to make ethanol, which, when blended with gasoline, gets fewer miles per gallon than gasoline alone.

The federal government continues to hand out an extravagant 51-cent-a-gallon subsidy for domestic ethanol while slapping a 54-cent-a-gallon tariff on imported ethanol, such as that made from sugar cane in Brazil.

Several steps would help solve ethanol’s problems:

“Congress should eliminate the tariff on imported ethanol, and reduce or eliminate the federal subsidy for domestic ethanol. Both moves would be positive blows for free markets, making it easier to evaluate the true costs of corn-based ethanol.

“Private companies should put more funds into producing domestic ethanol from sources other than corn, such as perennial grasses and wood chips.

“Although corn-based ethanol has been heralded by some as good for the environment, members of Congress as well as the public should consider some of the growing doubts about this claim.

Ethanol does have points in its favor. Fuel with ethanol in it burns more cleanly than gasoline, for example.

Ethanol makes up only a tiny portion of U.S. energy consumption, accounting this year for less than 5 percent of the fuel consumed by vehicles.

But many people are intent on making ethanol the nation’s renewable fuel of choice.

The consequences of achieving that goal – on consumers, farmers and the environment – deserve much more study and thoughtful evaluation than they have received so far.