Some refuse to admit the obvious. They are the same ones out to destroy the US and are doing a very good job of it.
Yeah; a good part of the reason why last week I was able to buy a $5 sack of cracked corn on sale for "just" $10.99.
As for all those "by products are used for animal feed", then why aren't feed prices going DOWN, instead of up, Mr Renewable Fuels Association President?
This is why I'm planting a "large" plot of corn (plus small plots of wheat, oats, and barley) this year, to supplement my chicken feed over next winter. Means more work; means more water usage; means having to store it.
Maybe I can also get something back by (don't tell the EPA!) burning the corn cobs to supplement the home heating...and if Obamanomics keeps going, also use them instead of $5/roll toilet paper next year.
I’m in favor of dropping ethanol subsidies, but I think the 40% number is overstated. Biodiesel is a good example, even with the $1/gallon subsidy farmers can get more money selling their soybeans for food than for fuel, thus more half of the soy biodiesel plants are idle. That’s the way it should work - let the market decide (without gov’t intervention). Yet the gov’t HAS intervened, in setting Renewable Fuel Standards - mandating how much fuel must come from renewable sources.
And here is the rest of the story. Current engines can burn a 10% mixture - E10 ethanol - and even if every gallon of fuel sold were E10, that means we’d need 12.6 billion gallons of ethanol per year. Guess what? We’ve already got that much plant capacity. The “blend wall” is a limiting factor. See this article for more details:
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2011/01/renewable-fuel-mandates-cant-be-met-by-ethanol.ars