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Opinion - For waste and inefficiency, you can’t beat corn ethanol

Cornell University professor David Pimentel, who died in 2019, questioned the ethics of using corn for ethanol production. Photo courtesy of Jesse Gardner.
Unsplash.com.
Cornell University professor David Pimentel, who died in 2019, questioned the ethics of using corn for ethanol production. Photo courtesy of Jesse Gardner.

Calling ethanol wasteful and inefficient doesn’t begin to list its drawbacks, writes Ted Williams. Derived from corn grown in the Midwest and West, he finds that It costs more to produce than gasoline, reduces mileage for vehicles, corrodes gas tanks and car engines, pollutes air and water, and, by requiring more energy to produce than it yields, increases America’s dependence on foreign oil. But so far, Williams adds, ethanol remains protected by a powerful agribusiness lobby.