Misinformation Abounds in Debate over Energy

by Jim Nussle (Growth Energy/Waterloo Courier) op ed: As the thousands of Iowans whose livelihoods depend on farming and renewable fuels know, an argument against ethanol is really an argument for America's status quo addiction to foreign oil. It is an addiction our nation can no longer afford, for the sake of our public health, our national security or our economy.

Unfortunately, in her Sept. 27 column, "Just tell the whole truth about fuel," Donna Wood shows just how deep a gulf of misinformation exists in the debate over national energy policy. A careful analysis of American-made ethanol - from its high-octane fuel qualities to its reduction in emissions to its job-creation - reveals how important this homegrown fuel is to our country's future.

Consider this: Besides producing a renewable fuel from grain, ethanol produces a mountain of livestock feed in the form of distilled grains (all the protein, oil and fiber left after taking the starch from the corn kernel). This affordable, highly-valued feed is often overlooked in the public debate over ethanol, but the truth is that distillers' grains are a major contributor to the food chain.

...Finally, what cannot be dismissed is the alternative to ethanol is gasoline, two-thirds of which is derived from foreign oil. The nation sends more than $300 billion overseas in a balance of payments that often end up in the pockets of anti-American terrorists. We cannot forget that 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, an ally of the United States and our major oil-trading partner.

We pay for this addiction to oil in more ways than one. Gasoline refiners use a toxic cocktail of aromatics, such as toluene and benzene, to increase the octane level of gasoline. But as former U.S. Diplomat and White House Counsel C. Boyden Gray laid out in a recently-published white paper, high-octane ethanol reduces the need for those aromatics - and saves the taxpayers untold billions in public health costs. READ MORE