corporations, (some) enviros, farmers and govt vs. the general public: the case of ethanol

From the editorialists of the WSJ...

The Obama Administration is pushing a big expansion in ethanol, including a mandate to increase the share of the corn-based fuel required in gasoline to 15% from 10%. Apparently no one in the Administration has read a pair of new studies, one from its own EPA, that expose ethanol as a bad deal for consumers with little environmental benefit.

The biofuels industry already receives a 45 cent tax credit for every gallon of ethanol produced, or about $3 billion a year. Meanwhile, import tariffs of 54 cents a gallon and an ad valorem tariff of four to seven cents a gallon keep out sugar-based ethanol from Brazil and the Caribbean....

The Congressional Budget Office reported last month that Americans pay another surcharge for ethanol in higher food prices....in 2007 the ethanol subsidy cost families between $5.5 billion and $8.8 billion in higher grocery bills [a regressive tax, costing between $75-125 for the average family of four]....

A second study -- by the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Transportation and Air Quality -- explains that the reduction in CO2 emissions from burning ethanol are minimal and maybe negative....