Posted on 06/13/2008 6:20:22 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
6/10/2008 8:47:00 AM
Farm-Belt Voters Favor Eliminating Or Scaling Back Corn Ethanol Mandate
Washington, DC - Most Americans - including those in the Farm Belt - want Congress to reduce or eliminate the corn ethanol mandate, according to a new poll released today by the National Center for Public Policy Research.
The poll, published by the Public Opinion and Policy Center of the National Center for Public Policy Research, found that 41% of Americans want Congress to repeal the corn ethanol mandate entirely, while 35% want Congress to repeal the law it passed last December to double it. Just 6% want the mandate to increase as planned while 5% want it to be even expanded further.
"With grocery prices up 1.5% in April alone, or 18% on an annualized basis, Americans don't appear to be in the mood for anything that would push food prices up even further," said David A. Ridenour, vice president of the National Center for Public Policy Research. "While there is more than one reason that food prices are rising, diverting one-third of the U.S. corn crop to produce fuel rather than food is a significant factor and the American people know it."
The survey also found a majority in the Farm Belt want Congress to change the ethanol policy. Twenty-five percent want it repealed entirely while 30% want it scaled back.
"Senator Charles Grassley recently called on Iowans to protest what he called a 'smear campaign' against ethanol,'" said Ridenour. "Don't look for that massive protest any time soon. Ethanol is drawing criticism from the Senator's own backyard."
Farm belt support for scaling back or eliminating the corn ethanol mandate was even higher once respondents were informed that two studies, one from Princeton University and another from the University of Minnesota, found that ethanol contributes more greenhouse gas to the atmosphere than does conventional gasoline. It does so, in part, because it encourages the clearing of so-called carbon sinks, such as rainforests, which absorb carbon dioxide, to produce crops for ethanol production.
"We shouldn't sacrifice food for fuel, nor should we sacrifice carbon sinks for fuel," said Ridenour. "Ethanol is costing us as taxpayers, it is costing us as consumers, and it is costing us important environmental resources while providing little-to-no benefit for most of us in return. Ethanol is the fuel to nowhere. Like the infamous 'bridge to nowhere' earmark, ethanol mandates mean we all pay enormous costs so a few can benefit."
Respondents to The National Center's survey were informed that Congress approved a law in December that doubles the amount of corn ethanol required in our gasoline. They were then informed that ethanol production is expected to use one-third of the U.S. corn crop this year and more through 2015 unless the ethanol mandate is scaled back.
They were then provided with the arguments of both proponents and opponents of the ethanol mandate.
The full survey questions may be found here http://www.nationalcenter.org/NCPPR_National Omnibus_MQ_Ethanol Questions_080516.pdf.
The poll was conducted by Wilson Research Strategies, which surveyed 802 people who are likely to vote in the 2008 general elections. It included 37% registered Democrats, 30% independents and 29% Republicans. It has a margin of error of +-3.46% at 95% confidence interval.
The National Center for Public Policy Research is a non-profit, non-partisan educational foundation based in Washington, DC and established in 1982. The National Center has not received funding from any source specifically to support its research into corn ethanol. The National Center received less than 1% of its 2007 budget from corporations, has received no corporate funding in 2008, and receives approximately 99% of its funding from some 72,000 active individual donors.
Source: The National Center for Public Policy Research
Ping!
I am really starting to get worried. With the combination of food shortages (and how does that happen in a matter of months?) and oil at ridiculous prices (how does THAT happen in a matter of months?) together could really cripple this country. People are already pulling back on spending which only makes it worse because then people lose jobs and the cycle starts.
And throw in the housing crunch...
Yeah, I’m nervous.
Oh yeah, maybe the paranoia is setting in, but I find it all a little much to be coincedence. Democrats set in motion to scare people into voting for them? Or inner workings to destroy this country?
Food shortages?
The fly over country is usually smarter than Washington DC or the Northeast of the country.
You should take a quick look at the list of senators from the farm belt.
Yes, food shortages. Haven’t you read about people rioting in other countries? And the price of rice and corn products are skyrocketing.
So folks in third world hell holes are rioting because America isn’t exporting enough corn starch? I would have guessed that it had something to do with the failure of their own collectivist economic systems.
Plant your garden.
Eliminate the farm subsidies and make it illegal to put alcohol in gasoline!
At least suspend it in these difficult times. ... Of course, that assumes the democrap leadership sees this thing they have created as somehtign to ‘fix’. As the nation circles into the bottom of the toilet bowl, the demcorats see opportunity to institute government controls and their brand of nanny state. Ain’t it wonderful, the criminals are leading the legislature now! They can write their own tickets to ride ...
Alcohol is a lousy fuel. It’s only good when mixed with nitro and then only if you don’t care about the mileage or cost.
I raced with it for years and it’s a crappy fuel for street cars.
Corn: 1 gallon of gas in, 1.5 gallons of gas out.
Pine: 1 gallon of gas in, 6 gallons of gas out.
So which did the government back?
What’s amazing to me is you have private companies, without huge government subsidies, building pine ethanol plants in Georgia and Louisiana (with more on the drawing board.) Why? It actually makes economic sense and is profitable.
And yet our federal government keeps throwing good money after bad pushing corn ethanol.
The Bum Rap on Biofuels
American Thinker | 5-13-08 | Herbert Meyer
Posted on 05/14/2008 3:59:06 AM PDT by Renfield
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2015711/posts
Campaign to vilify ethanol revealed
ethanol producer Magazine | May 16, 2008 | By Kris Bevill
Posted on 05/17/2008 9:22:13 AM PDT by Kevin J waldroup
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2017389/posts
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