Monitor says food price hikes making lawmakers reconsider federal support for corn ethanol

In a report on the growing backlash against ethanol, fueled by rising food prices and worries about shortages, Amanda Paulson of The Christian Science Monitor declares: "America's love affair with corn-based ethanol is cooling – at least in Washington." She reports that some lawmakers are considering freezing the mandate on biofuels production at its current levels or shifting tax incentives to cellulosic production of ethanol from corn-based production. (In The Associated Press photo, a combine tests a cob-catching attachment to gather materials for cellulosic production.)

Such considerations "represent a dramatic backlash against corn ethanol," Paulson writes, noting how the last few months have quickly changed corn ethanol's reputation. She adds: "Many experts worry that Washington's new skepticism will undo important progress the U.S. has made in replacing foreign oil with domestic energy alternatives. But others say that done right, a shift toward cellulose – nonfood plant material like grasses and crop residues – could reduce U.S. reliance on imported oil just as well as corn does. And it would accomplish it with fewer food and environmental trade-offs."

Underscoring that point, Paulson mentions the reduction in the ethanol tax credit that likely will be part of the Farm Bill. The proposal would drop the current 51-cent a gallon ethanol tax credit down to a 45- or 47-cent a gallon credit, while at the same time creating a $1.01 a gallon tax credit for cellulosic ethanol. There are yet no commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol producers. (Read more)