Researchers in Oregon recently looked at what environmental gains ethanol subsidies deliver for their own state, and concluded: not much http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ncs/newsarch/2007/Jan07/biofuels.html
For one thing ...
the cost of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by switching to corn-based ethanol was calculated to be more than 200 times higher than other existing policy options to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
For example?
For comparison, the authors calculated that the net energy benefits from increasing automobile fuel efficiency by one mile per gallon would be equivalent to three or four corn ethanol plants or 13 biodiesel plants
*** This post http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2006/12/12/62217/913 by Julia Armstead tells us about how the president of Ugunda is razing rain forests to grow palm oil and sugarcane. The price of cane being driven up by ethanol production.
Destroying rain forest carbon sinks to grow food for your people is forgivable, destroying them to feed the forests to our cars is not.
This place is home to some of the last of the wild mountain Gorillas. Uganda: Govt to Give Away Nine More Forests
http://allafrica.com/stories/200701050807.html
So they are not destroying the rain forests to grow cheap beef for Wendys anymore? Or destroying the rain forests to plant coffee? They are always destroying the rain forests for something or another.
Well said. What a shame that some folks here can't see any problems with this.