The U.S. Senate passed an energy-policy bill July 31 that would double amounts of corn-based ethanol in American gasoline. At the same time, a Cornell University agricultural ecologist has renewed his criticism of what many believe is a renewable fuel.

He claims that drivers who fill their tanks with gasohol (a blend of gasoline and corn-based ethanol) are paying three ways for a product that, he says, is both inefficient and environmentally harmful: once at the pump, once in taxes to fund government subsidies and once in higher food prices.

Cornell Professor of Ecology David Pimentel makes the claim in the latest issue of the journal Natural Resources Research (Vol. 12, No. 2). The dubious economics of corn-based ethanol, Pimentel writes, are threefold:

• In general gasohol is priced higher at the pump than gasoline yet yields poorer mileage per gallon.
• Taxpayers are the source of $1.4 billion a year in subsidies that help make ethanol production profitable for agribusiness firms.
• In addition to paying tax dollars for ethanol subsidies, says Pimentel, consumers can be expected to pay significantly higher food prices in the market place. Why? He cites the National Center for Policy Analysis' 2002 estimate that ethanol production is adding more than $1 billion to the cost of beef production. This, he says, is because producing the required corn feedstock for ethanol reduces the overall corn supply, adding about 2 cents a bushel to the price farmers receive for their corn, by his calculation. "Because about 70 percent of the corn grain is fed to U.S. livestock, doubling or tripling ethanol production can be expected to increase corn prices further for beef and livestock production and ultimately increase costs for the consumer," Pimentel states.

"Most of us wouldn't mind paying a premium for a homegrown fuel that's truly efficient, environmentally friendly and renewable," Pimentel said in an interview. "But ethanol from corn is none of those." Making a gallon of ethanol from corn, he calculates, requires about 29 percent more energy – from fossil fuels – than a gallon of ethanol can provide. At the same time, he said, ethanol has only two-thirds the energy content of the same volume of gasoline.

Also, he noted, "Corn farming takes a terrible toll on the environment – it causes more soil erosion and requires more insecticides, herbicides and nitrogen fertilizer than any other crop. And every gallon of ethanol produced results in 13 gallons of effluent pollution." Said Pimentel, "I can't call that renewable."