McCain versus Obama: ethanol

Topics: Campaign2008
05 May 2008

From: Ervan Darnell




Heard on today's News Hour [1] (from memory): '25 Senate Republicans,
including McCain, voted to cut ethanol subsidies to ease world food
prices'. While the immediate crisis is caused by other things, the
U.S. driving up the price of corn and rice (by displacing rice) has not
helped, especially in Mexico. I've written before about what a
total loser ethanol is just in the U.S. So, McCain is on the
economic and humanitarian side of the debate.
Obama (from his own website[2]):
Obama Helped Lead Efforts To
Pass Amendments That Improved The Bill's Renewable Energy Provisions And
Was Singled Out For His Work As A Negotiator On The Energy Bill's Ethanol
Provisions.
In 2005, Obama passed amendments to the 2005 Energy
Policy Act which would double the amount of ethanol used in our gasoline
supply by 2012 (from 2 billion to 8 billion gallons); provide a tax
credit for the retail purchase of E-85 fuel; and established an applied
research program to improve technologies for the commercialization of a
combination hybrid/flexible fuel vehicle; or a plug-in hybrid/flexible
fuel vehicle

Though just this week he backed off his previous mistake a little
bit:
WASHINGTON (AP) ­ Democrat
Barack Obama said Sunday the federal government might need to rethink its
support for corn ethanol because of rising food prices
[4]

Not that he voted that way, nor that he has come to terms with the
economic folly of his plan.
I found this good point from David Brooks (albeit a biased, but usually
credible, source):
In 2000, McCain ran for
president and reiterated his longstanding opposition to ethanol
subsidies. Though it crippled his chances in Iowa, he argued that ethanol
was a wasteful giveaway. A recent study in the journal Science has shown
that when you take all impacts into consideration, ethanol consumption
increases greenhouse gas emissions compared with regular gasoline.
Unlike, say, Barack Obama, McCain still opposes ethanol subsidies.
[3]

[1] 5/5/08 NewsHour, sorry, no transcript as of this time.
[2]

http://factcheck.barackobama.com/factcheck/2008/01/08/fact_check_obamas_strong_recor.php


[3]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/26/opinion/26brooks.html?_r=1&ex=1361768400&en=39a237bfc2c711cd&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin


[4]

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gKwNfClK2RU_LVUDl8BxgFXtj_AgD90EUHIO0


====================================================
Ervan
Darnell

ervan@kelvinist.com

http://www.kelvinist.com




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