Politics of Ethanol and Farm Policy Debate

In a recent opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal we get the likely flavor of the debate as congress prepares to write a new version of the farm bill. This week the whipping goes to ethanol subsidies using terms like “unrealistic energy goal”, “fiscally indefensible” and “environmentally unwise.”

No fewer than 17 Senators signed on to a letter stating, “Historically our government has helped a product compete in one of three ways: subsidize it, protect it from competition, or require its use. We understand that ethanol may be the only product receiving all three forms of support from the U.S. government at this time.” The WJS chimed in, noting the EPA ruling that, “Americans must use at least 13.95 billion gallons of ethanol in 2011, or about 8% of total U.S. fuel consumption. In protecting its free ride, the ethanol lobby is like Fannie Mae before the crash. But at least now there’s a glimmer of political hope for taxpayers.”

If you think the above was tough treatment of the ethanol industry, a quick scan of over 100 comments left at WSJ.com made it very clear that the public has targeted this subsidy with much of the same anger it showed to members of congress on November 2. ◆