Some ethanol facts:
Iowa’s ethanol industry can produce more than 3.6 billion gallons annually, using over 1.1 billion bushels of corn.
One bushel of corn can produce 2.8 gallons of ethanol. And 1/3 of a bushel of corn used to produce ethanol goes back to livestock feed in the form of DDGs.
Iowa leads the nation in ethanol production, creating nearly 30% of all ethanol.
One out of every 10 Iowa vehicles are able to fill up with higher blends of ethanol, including E85 which means 60 cents of every dollar spent filling up remains in Iowa.
A 2008 Merrill Lynch study found that ethanol prevented gasoline prices from rising as much as 15%.
While the U.S. imports 65% of its petroleum needs, domestic ethanol now reduces oil imports by 128,000 barrels each day.
Each barrel of domestic ethanol displaces 1.2 barrels of imported petroleum.
Producing ethanol requires less water than gasoline - by a 3-to-1 margin.
The ethanol industry has resulted in 50,000 new jobs in Iowa and accounts for $13 billion of Iowa GDP.
Ethanol contains 67 % more energy than it takes to produce it.
Stop the subsidy. Let the free market determine the sustainable level of ethanol production, no Washington bureaucrats. Currently about 1.1 billion bushels of Iowa’s 2.5 billion bushel corn crop is being used to make ethanol. Let the market decide.
Yepper - I'm curious to see how the real market (not the manufacturer who gets a subsidy) could choose a more expensive, less efficient form of energy.