"EPA's Ethanol Mandates Are Costing Consumers" U.S. News and World Report

"It is easy to see why the refiners were frustrated with the EPA's projections. In 2010, EPA projected that 5,000,000 gallons of ethanol would be produced, but not a drop was sold. In 2011, the EPA ignored the lack production.

In 2012, after two years of zero cellulosic ethanol production, the EPA's projection didn't return to reality, but further increased."

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/on-energy/2013/02/07/the-epa-is-causing-high-gas-prices

"Ethanol Mandate Leads to Violence, Social Unrest" The Heritage Foundation

"Dr. Yaneer Bar-Yam elaborated upon earlier research done by NECSI demonstrating a link between global food price increases associated with the corn-to-ethanol conversion and violence in the Middle East and North Africa known as the “Arab Spring” causing “unrest and upheaval.”

“Ethanol is corn. Corn is food. When you’re pulling into the gas station and you’re filling your tank of gas, 10 percent of what you’re putting into the tank is food. It could be eaten by people instead,” said Bar-Yam.

http://blog.heritage.org/2013/02/07/ethanol-mandate-leads-to-social-unrest/

"The Global Farmland Rush" New York Times

"...a Swiss company promised local farmers 2,000 new jobs when it acquired a 50-year lease to grow biofuel crops on 154 square miles in Makeni, Sierra Leone; in the first three years, it produced only 50."


http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/06/opinion/the-global-farmland-rush.html?_r=0

"Time to Reform Environmentally Damaging Corn Ethanol Mandate" EWG

CONTACT: Sara Sciammacco, ssciammacco@ewg.org, 202-667-6982
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 4, 2013

Washington, D.C. – Environmental Working Group (EWG) joined a diverse group of stakeholders today to call on Congress to reform the federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) because of its negative impact on the environment, farmers and taxpayers. The RFS requires refiners to blend 15 billion gallons of conventional biofuels (i.e. corn ethanol) into the U.S. fuel supply by 2015.

EWG Vice President of Government Affairs Scott Faber released the following statement:

“Corn ethanol has not only been a disaster for consumers, most farmers and taxpayers; it’s also been a disaster for the environment. In fact, it’s worse for the environment than Canadian tar sands.

“By dramatically increasing the price of corn, the corn ethanol mandate has, in just the last four years, contributed to the conversion of 23 million acres of wetland and grassland – an area the size of Indiana – to cropland. Thanks to the mandate, we have lost more wetlands and grasslands in the last four years than in the previous 40.

“By encouraging farmers to plow up wetlands and grasslands, the corn ethanol mandate is causing more carbon to be released into the atmosphere, causing more fertilizers and pesticides to wash off farm fields and destroying more habitat that supports wildlife – and millions of jobs. What’s more, burning more and more corn ethanol in gasoline releases more benzene, a known carcinogen, and other toxic air pollutants that are linked to asthma, bronchitis, and other respiratory ailments.”

"Court Overturns E.P.A.'s Biofuel Mandate" New York Times

"A federal appeals court threw out a federal rule on renewable fuels on Friday, saying that a quota set by the Environmental Protection Agency for incorporating liquids made from woody crops and wastes into car and truck fuels was based on wishful thinking rather than realistic estimates of what could be achieved. "

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/26/business/energy-environment/court-overturns-epas-biofuels-mandate.html?_r=1&

"More Corn Ethanol Means More Harm to Consumers, the Environment" Environmental Working Group

http://www.ewg.org/release/more-corn-ethanol-means-more-harm-consumers-environment

More Corn Ethanol Means More Harm to Consumers, the Environment
CONTACT: Sara Sciammacco, 202-667-6982, ssciammacco@ewg.org,
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Jan. 16, 2013
WASHINGTON – The decision by a federal appeals court not to block the sale of gasoline containing 15 percent corn ethanol (known as E15) is a setback for consumers and the environment, says Environmental Working Group vice president for government affairs Scott Faber.
The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday rejected a request that it reconsider an earlier decision that allowed the Environmental Protection Agency to go forward with regulations that permit the sale of the higher corn ethanol blend. Several food, oil, livestock and engine trade groups filed suit to challenge the EPA decision.
EWG’s Faber said in a statement:
“The court’s decision doesn’t change the simple fact that consumers will not buy a fuel that harms their engines, voids their warranties and jeopardizes their safety. And after a drought-ridden year that saw corn prices reach record highs, diverting even more of our crop to ethanol makes no sense whatsoever.
“Widespread use of E15 equates to higher grocery bills for struggling families, higher repair costs for motorists, higher spending for taxpayers and higher unemployment for livestock producers and farmers. That’s not the kind of energy future Americans can get behind. Instead, we need a commonsense approach to biofuels policy that loosens the corn ethanol industry’s stranglehold on the market and allows cleaner, more sustainable fuels to compete.”

As Biofuels Demand Grows, So Do Guatemala's Hunger Pangs New York Times

"Recent laws in the United States and Europe that mandate the increasing use of biofuel in cars have had far-flung ripple effects, economists say, as land once devoted to growing food for humans is now sometimes more profitably used for churning out vehicle fuel. "

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/06/science/earth/in-fields-and-markets-guatemalans-feel-squeeze-of-biofuel-demand.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0