Biofuel Laws Not Sole Reason for Food Shortages, Say Panelists Congress is pitting U.S. energy needs against world hunger, said members of a bipartisan panel convened to discuss the unintentional effects that bio-energy may have on the world's food supply. The event was hosted by Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas) at the Library of Congress on Monday. Other experts on the panel, however, argued that government regulations requiring the dilution of gasoline with corn-based ethanol is not solely to blame for hunger around the world, and that the rising demand for corn can be met by the market with time and increased technology. "Congress needs to revisit these food-for-fuel policies. We really shouldn't be pitting our fuel needs against hunger and the environment," said Scott Faber, vice president of foreign affairs for the Grocery Manufacturers Association. "I don't think any member of Congress would have voted for this legislation if they had known that the prices of corn would jump like this." As demand rises for corn, from which ethanol is derived, the number of acres used to grow wheat in the U.S. has contracted, The Washington Post reported recently, contributing to a shortage of wheat on the world market and an overall increase in world grain prices. But Jon Doggett, vice president of foreign policy at the National Corn Grower's Association, claimed that because of high demand and developments in technology, the market soon will correct itself and there will be plenty of corn to go around. "You have to remember that ethanol is becoming a larger slice of a growing pie," said Doggett. "For example, the state of Iowa today produces more corn in a single year than what the entire country could produce in a year during the 1930s." Dr. Bob Young, chief economist for the American Farm Bureau, agreed that before Congress reacts to rising food prices, farmers should be given a chance to try to meet the demand. But Faber argued that regardless of increased capability to produce grains, both corn and land that would have been dedicated to food are now being used for fuel and that this is driving prices up -- the prices of not just corn-based products, but also of dairy, meat and eggs....
Food and Federal Fuel Follies Worse, at least one prominent scientist worries that ethanol production could hurt the environment it's supposed to protect. "Biofuel from corn doesn't seem very beneficial when you consider its full environmental costs," according to Dr. William Laurance, a scientist with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. The $11 billion a year American taxpayers spend to subsidize corn producers "is having some surprising global consequences," he says. That includes Amazon forests being clear cut so farmers can plant soybeans. Unfortunately the cornfield isn't the only place where federal policy is causing troubles. Our country is also experiencing a shortage of wheat -- partly because many wheat farmers have switched to corn, and partly because Washington pays them whether they grow wheat or not. In 1996 lawmakers passed "legislation allowing wheat growers for the first time to switch to other crops and still collect government subsidies. The result is that farmers received federal wheat payments last year on 15 million acres more than were planted," The Washington Post recently reported. Corn is the answer to our food problems, not our fuel problems. The World Bank estimates that the amount of corn needed to fill the gas tank of an SUV is enough to feed one person for an entire year. That's a tradeoff the world can no longer afford....
GOP senators seek hold on ethanol mandate Senate Republicans have asked environmental regulators to use their power to halt the country's plans to expand ethanol production amid rising food prices. Twenty-four Republican senators, including presidential candidate John McCain of Arizona, sent a letter Friday to the Environmental Protection Agency suggesting that it waive, or restructure, rules that require a fivefold increase in ethanol production over the next 15 years. Congress passed a law last year mandating an increase to 15 billion gallons of corn ethanol by 2015 and 36 billion by 2022. But McCain and other Republicans said those rules should be suspended to put more corn back into the food supply for animal feed and to encourage farmers to plant other crops. "This subsidized [ethanol] program - paid for by taxpayer dollars - has contributed to pain at the cash register, at the dining room table, and a devastating food crisis throughout the world," McCain said in a statement. A spokesman for the Environmental Protection Agency said regulators will consider the economic impact of renewable-fuel requirements when deciding whether to suspend the rules. The agency has the power to waive or restructure federal requirements if they cause harm....Vote for a law, and then ask the federal agency to not implement the law. Way to go.