Ethanol's Once Seductive Appeal Starts to Fade

From today's WSJ article "Ethanol Industry Is Losing Clout":

Opposition to the ethanol industry's goals has grown significantly stiffer, and even groups that were originally sympathetic to ethanol are drifting away.

The so-called barnyard lobby -- representing the meat, livestock and poultry industries -- says high corn prices are hurting its profits. The price of corn-based animal feed has increased about 60% since 2005, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

"Our single biggest priority is for Congress to reject a new renewable-fuels mandate," says Jesse Sevcik, vice president of legislative affairs at the American Meat Institute, a meat and poultry trade association.

Some environmentalists say unchecked growth in ethanol production could lead to soil erosion and degradation of wildlife habitats as more land is turned over to corn production.

The spreading coalition against new ethanol mandates includes the American Petroleum Institute, representing the oil industry. It says it supports ethanol but prefers a market-driven approach, rather than one driven by the government.

"Many policy makers were seduced by ethanol," says Cal Dooley, president of the Grocery Manufacturers Association. He opposes increasing federal support for ethanol.

MP: Saying politicians were "seduced" might be a polite way of saying they were "duped?" When you have environmentalists on the same side of an issue as the American Petroleum Institute, you know that ethanol is indeed "dangerous, delusional bullshit," as Rollingstone magazine said in its article "Ethanol Scam: Ethanol Hurts the Environment And Is One of America's Biggest Political Boondoggles." Further, you also know that something's wrong with ethanol when you have the NY Times, Rollingstone, and LA Times agreeing with the Wall Street Journal and Investor's Business Daily that ethanol is a scam.