Tide ebbing for ethanol?
By Vincent Carroll
The Denver Post
Posted: 12/05/2010
This is stunning: "Producers of ethanol made from corn receive 73 cents to provide an amount of biofuel with the energy equivalent to that in one gallon of gasoline."
That's 73 cents in federal tax subsidies, says the Congressional Budget Office — or 45 cents for every gallon of ethanol blended into gasoline.
Do you suppose ethanol subsidies, totaling more than $6 billion, might be a good congressional target in an era of raging budget deficits?
I put that question recently to Colorado Sens. Mark Udall and Michael Bennet. Bennet's spokeman told me that while the senator "doesn't think we can afford to endlessly pump federal dollars into subsidies for mature energy sources at the rate we have been," he nevertheless "believes we need a more comprehensive approach that addresses these subsidies, be (they) for biofuels, oil and gas, or nuclear power."
(Read more: "Tide ebbing for ethanol?")
The Denver Post
Posted: 12/05/2010
This is stunning: "Producers of ethanol made from corn receive 73 cents to provide an amount of biofuel with the energy equivalent to that in one gallon of gasoline."
That's 73 cents in federal tax subsidies, says the Congressional Budget Office — or 45 cents for every gallon of ethanol blended into gasoline.
Do you suppose ethanol subsidies, totaling more than $6 billion, might be a good congressional target in an era of raging budget deficits?
I put that question recently to Colorado Sens. Mark Udall and Michael Bennet. Bennet's spokeman told me that while the senator "doesn't think we can afford to endlessly pump federal dollars into subsidies for mature energy sources at the rate we have been," he nevertheless "believes we need a more comprehensive approach that addresses these subsidies, be (they) for biofuels, oil and gas, or nuclear power."
(Read more: "Tide ebbing for ethanol?")
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1 Comments:
THANKS for posting this.
FYI : Leigh had a post that the median household income in 2008 was $52,029 … well, the farm community is doing a wee bit better.
According to the Dept of Agriculture :
--- The average family farm household income is expected to be up by 7.8 percent in 2010, to $83,194. Both farm and off-farm income are forecast to be up in 2010, compared to 2009.
--- Net farm income is forecast to be $81.6 billion in 2010, up $19.4 billion (31 percent) from 2009. The 2010 forecast is $16.7 billion above the average of $64.8 billion in net farm income earned annually in the previous 10 years and is the third largest amount of income earned in U.S. farming in nominal terms.
--- Farm business equity (assets minus debt) is expected to rise nearly 4 percent, due to an expected 3-percent increase in the value of farm assets and a 2-percent decline in farm business debt. The farm business sector's debt-to-asset ratio is expected to decline to 11.3 percent and debt-to-equity is expected to decline to 12.8 percent in 2010, indicating that the farm sector's solvency position remains strong.
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