2008-05-01
Corn Ethanol Losing Its Sheen in Washington... By Amanda Paulson, CSM, May 1, 2008. "America's love affair with corn-based ethanol is cooling -- at least in Washington... 'The solution to the issue of corn-fed ethanol is cellulosic ethanol,' President Bush told reporters Tuesday. But no large-scale, cost-effective cellulosic ethanol operations exist [though] research is under way and many scientists expect it to be available in commercial form within the next several years... Last week, Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) asked the federal government to halve the amount of [corn] ethanol that his state is supposed to use... Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R) introduced legislation freezing the [that] mandate at current levels… The tax package that is reportedly a part of the farm bill... would cut the current 51-cent a gallon ethanol tax credit by 4 to 6 cents and would create a $1.01 a gallon tax credit for cellulosic ethanol [in] a signal of shifting support from key lawmakers, though critics note that the effect will largely be symbolic, especially since commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol doesn't yet exist. 'They're shifting the credit, but the [corn ethanol] mandate is still there,' says Sandra Schubert… [of] the Environmental Working Group."
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