Via the LA Times, this is the best news I’ve heard all day:
The Obama administration on Tuesday proposed renewable fuel standards that could reduce the $3 billion a year in federal tax breaks given to producers of corn-based ethanol. The move sets the stage for a major battle between Midwest grain producers and environmentalists who say the gasoline additive actually worsens global warming.
….While biofuels as a whole — including grasses and even algae — are considered promising alternatives to petroleum, some researchers have begun challenging the use of corn for this purpose.
In particular, they point to the “indirect land-use” effects of pulling corn out of the world food supply, which could force farmers in developing nations to clear rain forests — and release massive amounts of carbon dioxide in the process — in order to plant corn.
Please dump the corn ethanol subsidies. Please, please, please. Dollar for dollar, it might well be the stupidest use of taxpayer cash in the entire federal budget.