Backlash to the Ethanol Binge
Texas Governor Rick Perry has asked the FDA to waive a mandate that requires gasoline processors to mix ethanol into fuel. The corn used to make that ethanol, he says, could be better used to feed livestock. "When you find yourself in a hole, you have to quit digging," he said.
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7 Comments:
What an idiot! Gee Rick, or you could better use that corn to produce diesel fuel. Even Willie Nelson has more sense than you. How you got elected twice, yes twice two times! I'll never know. I sure didn't vote for you.
laurelvan at 10:21AM on 07/23/08
eth from corn is foolish. much of the food cost in my restaurant has doubled since this hoax began and it is only getting worse. i am all for biofuels but how about ones that dont ruin engines and kill industries (see serious eats catfish story). it is obvious that the previous comment came from a 5 year old. take a look at the forrest idiot, not just the trees!
chefman at 11:11AM on 07/23/08
Feed it to livestock? -- Spoken like a true Texas cattleman.
Corn is FOOD. It should be used to feed PEOPLE. Biofuels made from foodstuffs are unethical, and should be banned, imo.
Real food for real people!
@chefman -- You are so right! -- "hoax", indeed!
Brownie at 11:55AM on 07/23/08
What ever happened to the initiative to make fuels from the waste products, like corn cobs and wheat stalks??? The corn itself should be *eaten*!!!
MollieBeth at 12:09PM on 07/23/08
Actually there could be a wide ranging discussion on the fact that food prices are skyrocketing not so much as a result of the corn being diverted into the fuel market, as due to the devaluation and lost trust in the American dollar that is just now showing the effect of Congressional mismanagment over the last 4 decades...but that's for another board.
Corn processed for ethanol still feeds the beef, but after processing the ethanol out of it, making an even more nutritent rich feed product, so that argument is void.
That all said, I would still much rather see ethanol from non-food crops, the problem is, there just isn't a strong "switchgrass" lobby to combat the corn producer lobby! The moral is, if you don't like where it's heading, you have yourself to blame...vote out your congressman.
DeaconVolker at 12:25PM on 07/23/08
I read an article about the processed "feed nutrient" being fed to the cattle and it seems that they are getting new varieties of illnesses from the new product. I believe there are non food plants that might have value as fuel, but of course, we have the fuel that resides under the ground all over and around America, and it's cheap to produce and it works in everything that we now wish to operate. They have now announced that oil is a mineral that continues to be made ( not just from dinosaurs) and of course, clean natural gas is abundant. Not to get too political, but the use of corn for fuel has affected the price of all food and until the unintended consequences are addressed, the government should rethink the ethanol situation.
ocarol at 2:10PM on 07/23/08
Dream on folks.
srhcb at 9:58PM on 07/23/08