Comments on: Food-Fuel Myths in NY Times Blog Bring on Grower Comments http://corncommentary.com/2007/09/08/food-fuel-myths-in-ny-times-blog-bring-on-grower-comments/ The blog about corn farming and American agriculture Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:09:31 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.5 By: Ron Steenblik (Global Subsidies Initiative) http://corncommentary.com/2007/09/08/food-fuel-myths-in-ny-times-blog-bring-on-grower-comments/#comment-81 Ron Steenblik (Global Subsidies Initiative) Sun, 09 Sep 2007 06:26:18 +0000 http://corncommentary.com/2007/09/08/food-fuel-myths-in-ny-times-blog-bring-on-grower-comments/#comment-81 Thank you for bringing my attention to the New York Times article. What is said in the commentaries about subsidies misses the whole point. Every stage of ethanol production is subsidized, from production of the feedstock to the installation of E85 pumps -- not just by the federal government, but also by the states. It is easy, but not very convincing, to defend subsidies to biofuels on the argument that everybody gets them. But when one applies common metrics -- like $ per MMBtu -- the numbers suggest that it is doubtful that any fuels are being as heavily subsidized as biofuels (biodiesel is subsidized at an even higher rate per gallon than ethanol). For more information, see our in-depth study, "Biofuels--At What Cost?" http://www.globalsubsidies.org/article.php3?id_article=6 By the way, the ethanol industry likes to point out that the $0.51 per gallon volumetric ethanol excise tax credit (VEETC) is paid to blenders, not ethanol producers. That is true, but what it enables them to do is charge a higher price. If the VEETC were irrelevant, than why does the industry fight so hard to keep it in place? Thank you for bringing my attention to the New York Times article. What is said in the commentaries about subsidies misses the whole point. Every stage of ethanol production is subsidized, from production of the feedstock to the installation of E85 pumps — not just by the federal government, but also by the states. It is easy, but not very convincing, to defend subsidies to biofuels on the argument that everybody gets them. But when one applies common metrics — like $ per MMBtu — the numbers suggest that it is doubtful that any fuels are being as heavily subsidized as biofuels (biodiesel is subsidized at an even higher rate per gallon than ethanol). For more information, see our in-depth study, “Biofuels–At What Cost?”

http://www.globalsubsidies.org/article.php3?id_article=6

By the way, the ethanol industry likes to point out that the $0.51 per gallon volumetric ethanol excise tax credit (VEETC) is paid to blenders, not ethanol producers. That is true, but what it enables them to do is charge a higher price. If the VEETC were irrelevant, than why does the industry fight so hard to keep it in place?

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