Letter To The Editor: Response to "The Ethanol Scam"

The best argument for corn ethanol is that it's an important but imperfect step on the road to more advanced biofuels - ones that will someday generate better energy yields, less environmental damage, and much-reduced carbon emissions. Dinneen, however, doesn't bother to make this argument. Instead, he invokes Hugo Chavez and dismisses me as an urban hipster who knows nothing about the dirty business of fueling America. I won't bother to defend my expertise on energy issues or the thoroughness of my reporting, but I will point out that several weeks before publication, I called Mr. Dinneen but was told by his media guy that he was too busy to talk with me.

A few thoughts about the issues Dinneen raises:

1. Dinneen writes, "What [Goodell] fails to mention is that American farmers are on pace to produce more corn than any time in history." Yeah, farmers are producing a lot of corn, but that's not the point. The point is, twenty percent of that corn crop is going to brew ethanol. If the Senate's 36 billion gallon per year mandate gets into the final energy legislation that is now being debated by Congress, that percentage is likely to increase. You have to be in deep denial to think that we can shovel this much corn into our SUVs without it having a profound effect on food prices and the environment, including deforestation, nitrogen run-off from corn fields, and the depletion of topsoils.

2. The Argonne lab study that Dinneen cites to argue higher energy returns on corn ethanol is, at best, misleading. For a thorough clarification, check out oil industry engineer Robert Rapier's analysis. I know that Dinneen finds bloggers unsavory, but Rapier is among the most fair-minded and insightful critics of the energy industry I've come across.

3. The notion that fat subsidies are justified because they plow money back into the economy is a tired argument. At many coal mines in Appalachia, the amount of money the coal company pays in taxes and other fees is posted right on the chain link fence at the entrance to the mine. As if that makes it okay to blow up the mountains of West Virginia and cook the climate.

4. On greenhouse gas emissions, Dinneen knows very well that that the actual emissions for corn ethanol depend on a number of factors, including whether the ethanol plant is powered by coal or natural gas or methane. For the best analysis of emissions -- the one that informed my article -- see "Ethanol can contribute to energy and environmental goals," in the January 27th, 2006, issue of Science.

Some links to follow the debate online:
Rolling Over Ethanol
R-Squared Energy Blog
Scienceblogs.com/Pharyngula
Gristmill
Policy Today
Treehugger