your epa still working hard for you.

[crabby and son]

naw, the government will just pay them more because they can't grow enough Corn!
We're all in trouble folks !

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It's not just cattle Gary, virtually all livestock feed has corn in it.
I used to pay $9.00 for a 50# bag of chicken feed, no it's almost $15.00!!!!
This is just another economy killer.

Deer corn has gone through the roof also. Glad they can not put milo or grain in gas!.............Gary

[Doggydaddy]

Gotta love the A$$ hole politicians.

[OldSalt46]

When you make ethanol from corn you need the sugar...not the proteins. Thus our current infrastructure in the "corn belt" uses the corn mash to make alcohol and sells the "begasse" or solids to the feed manufacturers. This shoots your rising feed cost theory right in the rear...

It is true that farmers are going to sell to whoever pays more. That is economics. However, ethanol isn't the problem. The rising cost of transportation (along with increased demand from overseas where we are now beginning to export ethanol) is the culprit. I'll be clear, I'm not a fan of ethanol. It causes me many headaches in my boat. But we can't continue to blame everything on them when it isn't their fault.

...and they can make ethanol from milo and grain...

[J bones]

When you make ethanol from corn you need the sugar...not the proteins. Thus our current infrastructure in the "corn belt" uses the corn mash to make alcohol and sells the "begasse" or solids to the feed manufacturers. This shoots your rising feed cost theory right in the rear...

It is true that farmers are going to sell to whoever pays more. That is economics. However, ethanol isn't the problem. The rising cost of transportation (along with increased demand from overseas where we are now beginning to export ethanol) is the culprit. I'll be clear, I'm not a fan of ethanol. It causes me many headaches in my boat. But we can't continue to blame everything on them when it isn't their fault.

...and they can make ethanol from milo and grain...

The sugar and starch is also food. Ethanol mandate in gas has driven the price of corn up significantly. That affects everything else in the food chain, so to say and food prices have risen substantially. The food chain here would be food prices as well as gas prices.

[goose70]

The sugar and starch is also food. Ethanol mandate in gas has driven the price of corn up significantly. That affects everything else in the food chain, so to say and food prices have risen substantially. The food chain here would be food prices as well as gas prices.

I'm not a big fan of corn-based ethanol, but I'd much rather see those sugars in my gas tank than in my body in the form of corn syrup or HFCS. We also eat way more meat than any country, and the process of feeding, carring for, cleaning up after and processing all of those livestock carries an enormous environmental cost.

We talk on here a lot about a cleaner Bay and cleaner water, yet so few seem willing to honestly examine how the fundamentals of our lifestyle (many of them recent and easily reversable) impact the equation. Food is still cheaper and more easily available than any other time in history.....in the US, we pay a smaller percentage of our income to get food than ever before. I think it's both fascinating and sobering how obesity, health care costs, agriculture and clean water relate.

[eastduck]

Some of you got it right. The EPA doesn't make the rules they just enforce what the law requires them to enforce. The bottom line is that the Congress makes the rules. Congress passed a law requiring ethnol use and this law makes farmers more money on corn crops because there is more demand. If we don't like ethonol in our fuel then vote for those who don't like to support ethonol fuel subsidies. As a federal employee we often get blamed for every good/bad decision that happens even though we are not authorized to make mission related decision. Hate to say it but only congress can make those types of decisions. It's would be like saying that everyone in the banking industry is responsible for the housing collapse when really it was a few hedgefund guys who made it profitable to bet against high interest mortgages not every banker in the world. Generalizing is usually not factual but then again I am pretching to the choir, right?

[Hardhed]

Some of you got it right. The EPA doesn't make the rules they just enforce what the law requires them to enforce. The bottom line is that the Congress makes the rules. Congress passed a law requiring ethnol use and this law makes farmers more money on corn crops because there is more demand. If we don't like ethonol in our fuel then vote for those who don't like to support ethonol fuel subsidies.

Bingo

[OldSalt46]

Eastduck,

Bob Dineen, President of the Renewable Fuels Association (1/2 of the industry since the founding of Growth Energy) says they don't need subsidies to survive. Their constituents are mature enough to survive losing the tax breaks. His members have plants that can strip the parts out for ethanol and still have the lion's share of nutrients remaining. That means the corn can serve two purposes (actually more but that's a different discussion). Now if they could get the cellulosic working we'd be in good shape.

Still, its better then MTBE...