Corn Commentary

Ethanol “Under Siege”

The latest volley against ethanol was fired this week by the Wall Street Journal in an article which has prompted blog commentary all over the internet.

The phrase which came to my mind reading the article was the famous quote by Mark Twain after hearing that his obituary had been published in the New York Journal - “Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”

As one commentator in the Daily Republic noted, “The Wall Street Journal all but announced the death of biofuels.”

“Ethanol Craze Cools As Doubts Multiply,” reads the headline of the obituary in the newspaper that, famously, failed to foresee the 1987 stock market crash, the dot com bust of 2000 and the great mortgage meltdown of 2007.

Then there was the Gristmill’s Tom Philpott:

I used to love to start my writing day by taking a poke or two at the corn-based ethanol industry — you know, the biggest greenwash ever.

These days, the debunking of corn fuel almost seems like it’s piling on. Today, two major newspapers — the LA Times and The Wall Street Journal — ran front-page stories that essentially say: everyone hates government support for corn-based ethanol, except for people with a direct financial (or political) stake in it.

I just can’t think of any other product or commodity that has had such a relentless attack on it. It’s really amazing when you think about it. What I don’t understand is why people can’t recognize corn ethanol as the starting point that it is? Most of the anti-ethanol criticism comes from those who see corn ethanol as an end, rather than a means. Getting the infrastructure in place and creating demand are an important means to building an alternative fuel industry in the country.

Mark Twain also said of his exaggerated death, “I didn’t attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it.” I think the ethanol industry will pass on its funeral.