I was referring to the forests being chopped down in South America to plant corn.
I am gathering information and will add your opinions to the catalog.
One thing for sure is that we agree on decreasing our dependence on mid east (and Venezuelan) oil...double edge to that as well. Decreasing our dependence on them means decreasing our influence as well. I guess the principle should be following a balanced approach until technology improves to the point where we don't need oil.
I suspected that you might be. You can blame the biggies...Cargill et. al. for that. They simply cannot stand the idea that they may have to pay actual MONEY to buy corn. FWIW, farmers barely break even with the market price of corn...ethanol has given us a small shred of hope. I'm sure the government will allow them to head south, break all kinds of environmental regulations, and cheat us yet again.
Farmers have been the driving force behind ethanol production. Many of the plants are co-ops, or otherwise farmer-funded. Now, when it appears to be profitable (and after letting the farmers take the risk) the big guys will sweep in...with the FedGov by their side to dominate the market; by moving it offshore. And, HAVE NO DOUBT, they will destroy the environment, use slave labor...they simply cannot abide a farmer making money. They are also planning on using sugar for ethanol production.
Here's some additional info for you to add to your collection:
http://www.iowacorn.org/ethanol/ethanol_5a.html