That may seem counter-intuitive, because burning ethanol merely puts back into the air the carbon dioxide (CO2) that corn crops recently pulled out of it, whereas burning gasoline liberates carbon that had been stored in geologic deposits for millions of years.

But other factors come into play, such as the fossil energy inputs required to produce the corn, turn it into ethanol, and deliver the ethanol to market. 

In addition, as EPA argues in its proposed rule to implement the renewable fuel standard program established by the…

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Regardless of your political party or ideological leanings, the notion of the federal government spending $2 trillion, adding to the national debt of nearly $11 trillion already, should make you stop and consider the staggering size of our national tab.

If the irony of using debt-based spending to solve a problem caused by debt-based spending has escaped you, perhaps these fun facts will put things into perspective:

If you spent $1 every second, you’d have to keep spending for 412,000 years to get…

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Great. Now USDA head Tom Vilsack is saying the US ethanol industry needs to be protected in the borrow-and-spend bill, and beyond:

“The ethanol industry is under particular strain,” Vilsack said in a
conference call with reporters.

Loan guarantees for the industry, distributed by the USDA as part of the
2008 Farm Bill, “can help more of these companies stay in business,” Vilsack
said, though he warned that “there will be a premium on ethanol producers who
can stay efficient,” a clear warning that there…

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