The ethanol question

With the average nationwide price of gasoline over $2 a gallon, Middle East oil supplies uncertain and high oil prices threatening the economy, renewable fuels are getting a lot of attention these days.

Mass marketing of hydrogen fuel vehicles is the answer promoted by President Bush but is at least 15 years away. Ethanol may provide the more immediate solution.

The Missouri House of Representatives is considering a bill that would mandate all gasoline sold in the state contain at least 10 percent ethanol by 2007.

That could triple the amount of ethanol produced in the state, which is good news for corn growers.

At more than 300 million bushels a year, Missouri is the nation's ninth largest corn producing state.

Last year, 8 percent of the state's corn crop was turned into ethanol. Ethanol supporters expect that figure to increase dramatically in the next few years as new plants go into production and more farmers rev up their corn production.

Ethanol currently is subsidized by the federal government at the rate of 51 cents per gallon.

Critics of the movement to use more ethanol say it could not compete with gasoline without price supports.

But there is a bottom line for consumers: Gasoline containing ethanol costs consumers less, and vehicles using it pollute less.

Across the U.S., some 200 service stations -- including eight in Missouri -- are equipped to pump E85, a gasoline alternative consisting of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent petroleum.

This fuel is made for use in flexible fuel vehicles, which can use either E85 or gasoline.

Many automakers produce these vehicles at little or no additional cost. They get 5 to 15 percent fewer miles to the gallon, but in Minnesota, which has 110 E85 fuel stations, E85 currently costs 40 to 60 cents less per gallon than unleaded regular gasoline.

In Brazil, nearly 20 percent of the country's vehicles run on 100 percent ethanol made from sugar cane.

Ethanol isn't perfect. Its production releases carbon monoxide, methanol and carcinogens.

And any state ethanol law needs a provision for getting around the mandate in years when the corn crop is bad.

The use of more ethanol should get serious consideration.