Ethanol Errors Spark Retort From Former NCGA President

“Ethanol is an industry built on U.S. jobs, cleaner air, a stronger rural economy and a frightening increase in our dependence on foreign oil from unfriendly nations.  A couple of rounds of $4 a gallon gasoline didn’t hurt either.” So says Steve Wentworth, president of the National Corn Growers Association 1988-89.  The Maora, Illinois farmer wrote the letter featured here in response to a recent column  critical of ethanol and citing a justly maligned David Pimentel of Cornell University as its expert source.

Dr. Pimentel is an often-cited source by ethanol critics because he is one of the few voices residing in that stark landscape.  Retired professor Pimentel is an entomologist – an insect expert – with no legitimate credentials to preach the science or economics of ethanol fuel.

For years he has augmented his retirement by updating and regurgitating the same old study at the behest of anti-ethanol folks like big petroleum. The only place it gets any traction is in the media. More than a dozen studies by unbiased experts, and peer reviewed by additional scientists and academics have shown that Dr. Pimentel’s data, assumptions and pseudo-science just don’t hold water.

Ethanol does indeed receive some government incentives, as do nearly all renewable or alternative energy sources being developed and expanded today. This makes perfect sense. What we should be asking is why the oil industry is so heavily subsidized after nearly two centuries in operation and ongoing profits that has been downright sensational in recent decades.

A recent study concluded gasoline prices would increase 14.6% or $.365/gallon if gas is $2.50 and there was no ethanol.

The corn grown on my farm doesn’t require a military escort to get from Maroa to the ethanol plant in Decatur.  What is the true cost of transporting a barrel of crude from the Middle East to the United States in terms of defense spending and human life?  My cousin’s son is in Iraq now.  Would he be over there if there weren’t any oil in that part of the world?

The money I am paid for that bushel of corn is spent here in the Decatur, Macon County area on equipment, fuel, seed, tires, fertilizer, electricity, taxes, retail stores, insurance, restaurants and for my subscription to the Decatur Herald and Review.  How many dollars do Arab oil sheiks spend in Decatur?

Here are the facts:  ethanol production shows a 60% net energy gain; corn productivity is soaring so it represents an abundant, renewable resource, it takes 3-4 gallons of water to produce a gallon of ethanol and the number is declining with technological advances.

  It takes 1,851 gallons of water to refine a 42 gallon barrel of crude oil. It takes 150 gallons of water to produce the average size Sunday newspaper. Everything about life is perspective and from where I live ethanol looks like a darned good idea.

 (Thanks Steve for speaking up and for remindinging corn growers why involved members are critical to making the National Corn Growers Association effective.)