Ethanol's benefits continue to increase

By Gary D. Marshall

Michael Devaney's opinion piece in the Sept. 20 Southeast Missourian is way off base on so many levels.

First, only one researcher has ever found ethanol to be a net energy loss: Dr. David Pimentel, whose research has been widely discredited by fellow academics and government officials at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Department of Energy. In June 2004, the USDA updated its 2002 analysis of the issue and determined that the net energy balance of ethanol production is 1.67 to 1.

Second, the "sewage-like effluent" is actually a syrup-like fluid that is poured over dried distillers grains, a co-product of ethanol production and a high-energy feed for livestock.

Third, advances in corn genetics and biotechnology have reduced the amount of herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers applied to corn. Soil erosion has decreased more than 40 percent between 1982 and 2003, according to the National Resources Inventory, conducted by USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service, because of improved tillage and conservation practices and better farming methods.

There are two important facts that dispute Devaney's claim meat prices will skyrocket.

First, U.S. corn producers will harvest the third consecutive crop of more than 11 billion bushels this fall. During this same three-year period, livestock's share of the corn market remained relatively flat.

In addition, the dried distillers grains used to feed livestock can be a substitute for corn fed to livestock. With increases in production and increased ethanol production producing dried distillers grains, the livestock sector will be well-fed, and stable meat prices should be the norm. All of this is happening at a time when corn prices are at historic lows even with the new demand from ethanol.

It is also interesting to note the American Lung Association Web site, www.lungusa.org, highlights the benefits of renewable fuels, saying, "Ethanol produces lower emissions of ozone-forming compounds and toxic air pollutants."

And this finance professor for a state-funded university is not seeing the whole picture on the jobs issue either. In 2005, the U.S. ethanol industry contributed more than $32 billion to gross domestic output, $5 billion to household income, nearly $2 billion to federal taxes, $1.6 billion to state and local taxes, added $6 billion to net farm income, increased average corn prices about 35 cents per bushel and was responsible for more than 153,000 jobs in all sectors of the economy.

In addition, last year ethanol displaced 170 million barrels of oil, lowered consumer gasoline about 8 cents per gallon and reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 8 million tons, the equivalent of taking more than a million vehicles off the road.

The federal Renewable Fuels Standard ensures that ethanol has a place at the table in a world controlled by the oil industry. We realize ethanol isn't the only solution to a global problem, but it's a major step in the right direction. America now imports 60 percent of our oil needs. We are vulnerable. Energy security should be a national priority. We cannot bash the most viable, readily available source of domestically, produced renewable fuel on the market.

U.S. Sen. Jim Talent and others should be commended -- not lambasted -- for recognizing ethanol's benefits.

Gary D. Marshall is chief executive officer of the Missouri Corn Growers Association in Jefferson City, Mo.