In ethanol debate, perception trumps science and sound policy

Wisconsin Technology Network
Tom Still
May 13, 2008

Madison, Wis. - You have to admire Kay Bailey Hutchison's chutzpah, if nothing else. The veteran U.S. senator from Texas, a state that holds one-third of known U.S. petroleum reserves, thinks the federal government should stop subsidizing production of biofuels such as ethanol.

Hutchison is apparently fine with the visible and hidden subsidies Uncle Sam has provided Big Oil for generations - such as reduced corporate income taxes, federal funding for programs specific to the oil industry, increased national security costs to protect oil shipping lanes and the shifting of environmental costs to taxpayers. But when it comes to investing in a possible energy competitor, Hutchison and friends are suddenly laissez-faire capitalists.

The future of biofuels in the United States is being threatened by perceptions and politics versus science and sound energy policy. That's a problem for the United States, which must secure its long-term energy independence, and for Wisconsin, which could become a collateral victim if the drive-by assaults on biofuels continue.

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