From the office of Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa):
Grassley urges Iowans to push back against DC-hatched smear campaign against ethanol
WASHINGTON — Senator Chuck Grassley today encouraged Iowans who work for major food manufacturers to make their voices heard in opposition to a national smear campaign against ethanol.
“A national association employing high-priced Washington, DC, spin doctors has launched a misleading and disingenuous assault on ethanol,” Grassley said. “The facts are that biofuels are a very small factor in rising grocery costs and just 19 cents of every food dollar spent by consumers goes to farmers. I’m calling on companies who are members of the Grocery Manufacturers Association to protest the trade association’s target and tactics. Every employee of these member companies can join in. We’ve got to speak truth to power and fight back against this smear campaign.”
Grassley then urges employees of certain companies to defend their piece of the pie — Archer Daniels Midland is at the top of his list.
If Grassley is worried about the future of ethanol, then I feel like my life is being well spent. Not all biofuels are necessarily useless, but a look at the math on ethanol — at the small net amount of energy produced and the vast amount of subsidies expended — is enough to make one cry for needlessly wasted billions. And that is without even mentioning what ethanol does to the price of food.
UPDATE: From a reader, who focuses on Grassley’s use of the words “very small factor”:
To my mind that’s the big admission — that he even admits that using food for fuel DOES increase costs. That’s an admission I have not yet seen. I wonder how small Sen. Grassley thinks that factor is. Further, I wonder if he and his cohorts will ever admit it’s a tax.