GoodFuels

Balanced Denver Post Editorial

The Denver Post published an editorial today that provides a clear-headed approach to thinking about ethanol production and the rising cost of corn. They start out by talking about the development of cellulosic ethanol while acknowledging the impact ethanol has on our addiction to oil and how it will benefit the local community:

It takes time for a new enterprise to work out the kinks. That’s why we continue to encourage the development of other agriculture byproducts, such as wood chips, switchgrass and cornstalks, to produce ethanol. Ethanol production brings jobs and eases our dependence on oil.

They go on to address that oil prices are the cause of increased production costs in industries like the cattle trade, but that ethanol is helping to ease prices at the pump.

Ethanol production is a conundrum worth chewing on. Gas prices are leaping daily, which increases costs to ship cattle as well as the feed. Ethanol is one way to ease some of that demand. Using more ag products in the process will be environmentally helpful as well as beneficial to the nation’s farmers… Even Fankhauser (Terry Fankhauser, executive vice president of the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association) acknowledges the economic benefits of ethanol production to the state.

This is definitely worth a read - it provides a refreshingly balanced viewpoint.