Radio Ethanol Debate
Posted: October 29, 2007
Earlier this month, WHYY radio in Philadelphia had opposing sides in the ethanol debate on a program called Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane.
The guests were Tom Slunecka, executive director of the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) and Robert Bryce, managing editor for the Energy Tribune. You might remember him from a previous post where he compared cellulosic ethanol to the tooth fairy.
It was an interesting debate and worth a listen. Tom held his own well and responded appropriately to the arguments, starting off with the subsidy issue. Bryce started by citing statistics about how much money was spent in corn price supports from 1995 to 2005. Tom responded by noting that price supports paid to farmers went down by $8 billion in 2006 because ethanol increased the price of corn.
Marty was a very good moderator in the debate and Bryce came off as totally supporting the oil industry, whether he would admit it or not.
Here is the link to the archived debate for your listening pleasure. The program aired on October 10.