tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11015870.post3547845816934092937..comments2023-11-03T08:29:56.308-07:00Comments on Economic Trends: Iraq War Is Diverting AttentionErnie Gosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04960355803509595037noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11015870.post-91258581674272589712007-04-28T00:27:00.000-07:002007-04-28T00:27:00.000-07:00Mr. Goss, I think it is unfair to blame "environme...Mr. Goss, I think it is unfair to blame "environmentalists" for the President's and the Congress's (both parties) obsession with ethanol. The roots of this industry -- born subsidized -- extend back almost 30 years. Current policy is driven much more by the interests of the agricultural lobby, and confusion between energy independence and energy security, than by genuine environmental policy. But most of all, subsidizing ethanol is a palliative that enables politicians to tell the voting public, "Don't worry about the price of gasoline: we're taking care of things by boosting the supply of a home-grown alternative!"<BR/><BR/>In case any of your readers are interested, the subsidy numbers that you quote are contained in a report that we (an NGO dedicated to sustainable development) published last October, "<A HREF="http://www.globalsubsidies.org/article.php3?id_article=6&var_mode=calcul" REL="nofollow">Biofuels--At What Cost?</A>". In that report, total subsidies to ethanol are estimated at around $6 billion a year. But what is more significant is that most of those subsidies are linked to production. So the more ethanol is produced, the greater the loss to the U.S. Treasury. Thus, for example, meeting President Bush's proposed 35-billion-gallons-a-year by 2017 "Alternative Fuels Target" with ethanol would cost at least <A HREF="http://www.globalsubsidies.org/article.php3?id_article=17&var_mode=calcul#Costing" REL="nofollow">$118 billion</A> in subsidies over the next 11 years. Additional subsidies at the state level could inflate that number by 50% or more.<BR/><BR/>Ron Steenblik<BR/>Research Director<BR/>Global Subsidies InitiativeRon Steenblikhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17419590389761944796noreply@blogger.com