Once again, we see a poorly written, difficult to follow report citing two experts without any indication that these people have any more expertise than two random oil lobbyists.

So are we talking about grain ethanol production or cellulosic ethanol here? Should we stop research on biofuels altogether or just bioethanol? Researchers at Texas A&M think we can convert plant biomass to not just ethanol, but actually convert it into jet fuel and gasoline. Should we stop the research and development that would lead to this breakthrough as well?

Development of an ethanol industry is one stepping stone to energy independence. No one has ever suggested that ethanol would replace all our fossil fuel needs. If you could produce fuel more cheaply than refining imported oil, sell consumers transportation fuels at a lower cost, and run a successful business employing Americans, why would you oppose this? Government subsidies to the oil industries dwarf the proposed subsidies to the ethanol industry. The argument against subsidies is bogus.

Certainly, we prefer to produce other fuels besides ethanol, but we have to learn how to take baby steps; make ethanol - as well as try to take leaps; convert biomass to higher energy fuels.

Fighting against ethanol is not going to help us make the leap to the next step. I look forward to a day when the combustion engine is a thing of the past and all cars are battery powered from solar energy. But that isn't going to happen soon. We should take advantage of intermediate technologies such as bioethanol.

Thanks for writing this! Many people see ethanol as the end all be all to oil and its not! The only problem is that you didn't cite enough reasons why ethanol is a poor alternative to oil!

Ethanol, or whatever biofuel you chose, lets cover 75% of the earth's land surface in big homogenous industrial crops. Might was well cut down the rainforests while we're at it too - thats prime agricultural realestate. What do we need biodiversity for? This is definitely the answer to the world's looming energy crisis.

We now use 25% of our corn crop for ethanol. Gasoline consumption has not decreased at all. Will 50% of the corn crop be any different? I doubt it.

We need to look at the current government ethanol support for what it is. It is a ag subsidy. And as an ag subsidy it has been extremely effective so let's give the USDA and the federal govt some credit here.