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Obama’s Questionable Ethanol Ties

By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, Energy, Illinois, Iowa, McCain

Keeping the Washington interests out of his campaign? Perhaps not, and this is something I’m keeping an eye on…especially since ethanol is widely seen as a boondoggle.

From NY Times…

Mr. Obama is running as a reformer who is seeking to reduce the influence of special interests. But like any other politician, he has powerful constituencies that help shape his views. And when it comes to domestic ethanol, almost all of which is made from corn, he also has advisers and prominent supporters with close ties to the industry at a time when energy policy is a point of sharp contrast between the parties and their presidential candidates. [...]

Nowadays, when Mr. Obama travels in farm country, he is sometimes accompanied by his friend Tom Daschle, the former Senate majority leader from South Dakota. Mr. Daschle now serves on the boards of three ethanol companies and works at a Washington law firm where, according to his online job description, “he spends a substantial amount of time providing strategic and policy advice to clients in renewable energy.”

Mr. Obama’s lead advisor on energy and environmental issues, Jason Grumet, came to the campaign from the National Commission on Energy Policy, a bipartisan initiative associated with Mr. Daschle and Bob Dole, the Kansas Republican who is also a former Senate majority leader and a big ethanol backer who had close ties to the agribusiness giant Archer Daniels Midland.

Yes, he seems to be in the pocket of Big Corn. Better than Big Oil, but still a lot more hazardous to our economy and environment than many realize. And while I agree that looking at all options for weening ourselves from foreign oil is probably one of the most important things the next POTUS will put on his agenda, ethanol just isn’t doing it.

Now, since Illinois is the 2nd largest corn growing state in the US, Obama’s ethanol position isn’t necessarily inconsistent with his past views, but I’m sure he has seen the evidence by now that this fuel isn’t sustainable, so we shouldn’t be throwing a ton of money at it. And if he hasn’t seen the evidence…why not?

Drawing a stark contrast in this debate is McCain, and he has the right opinion in my view…

Mr. McCain advocates eliminating the multibillion-dollar annual government subsidies that domestic ethanol has long enjoyed. As a free trade advocate, he also opposes the 54-cent-a-gallon tariff that the United States slaps on imports of ethanol made from sugar cane, which packs more of an energy punch than corn-based ethanol and is cheaper to produce.

“We made a series of mistakes by not adopting a sustainable energy policy, one of which is the subsidies for corn ethanol, which I warned in Iowa were going to destroy the market” and contribute to inflation, Mr. McCain said this month in an interview with a Brazilian newspaper, O Estado de São Paulo. “Besides, it is wrong,” he added, to tax Brazilian-made sugar cane ethanol, “which is much more efficient than corn ethanol.”

I applaud McCain for taking a tough stance in Iowa when it wasn’t necessarily to his advantage, and, again, I’m with him on this issue. There are numerous other bio-fuels and we should be looking at all of them, not just favoring one specific crop because it’s politically advantageous.


This entry was posted on Monday, June 23rd, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, Barack, Energy, Illinois, Iowa, McCain. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

7 Responses to “Obama’s Questionable Ethanol Ties”

  1. Dr. Robot Says:
    June 23rd, 2008 at 9:40 am

    Are you kidding? Or just trying to stir up controversy where none exists?

    “Yes, he seems to be in the pocket of Big Corn. Better than Big Oil, but still a lot more hazardous to our economy and environment than many realize.”

    with what evidence? The closest thing you have to evidence is this: He’s friends with Tom Daschle?? This is a **huge** stretch.

    Try digging up some past votes for ethanol, or some history of him actually giving in to “Big Corn.” Maybe even “Big Corn” giving him campaign money. These types of things are actual evidence. If you can find anything I’ll gladly state that your accusations are based in reasonable facts.

  2. gerryf Says:
    June 23rd, 2008 at 10:21 am

    I would have to agree with Dr. Robert–you’re allowing your distaste for ethanol produced from corn to color your perception. Most everyone knows that ethanol from corn is a dead end, and indeed counterproductive. It was easy to start the process but not sustainable.

    However, ethanol can be made from many different plants. Switchgrass yields between a 400 and 500 percent more energy from ethanol than it takes to produce (a criticism of corn-based ethanol) and using it does not compete as a food product. Furthermore, it can be grown in areas where corn cannot.

    Obama’s support of ethanol as a PART of the solution does not make him a partner with Big corn–it makes him a forward thinker.

    If you had bothered to read the rest of the article, you would see some “facts

    Jason Furman, the Obama campaign’s economic policy director, said that Obama’s stance on ethanol is based on its merits. He went on to say, “We want to evaluate all our energy subsidies to make sure that taxpayers are getting their money’s worth.” And added Obama favors a range of initiatives aimed at “diversification across countries and sources of energy,” including cellulosic ethanol (read switchgrass, hemp, etc)

    Finally, ethanol industry executives and advocates have not made large donations to either candidate for president, an examination of campaign contribution records shows.

    They have noted a difference, but that difference has not resulted in action.

    This kind of post reads like controversy via soundbyte, rather than controversy based on substance.

  3. Justin Gardner Says:
    June 23rd, 2008 at 10:26 am

    From Harper’s:

    Since arriving on Capitol Hill, Obama has been as assiduous as any member of Congress in promoting ethanol. 22. ADM has apparently not contributed money to Obama, but during his first year in office he traveled on the company’s private jets at least twice. All told, Obama took twenty-three flights on corporate planes; after some atypically bad press for accepting the flights, Obama imposed a ban at his office on privately subsidized travel. He has introduced a number of measures that benefit the industry—such as the “Obama Amendment” that offered oil companies a 50 percent tax credit for building stations that offer E85 fuel—and voted for the corporate-welfare-laden 2005 energy bill, which offered billions in subsidies to ethanol producers as well as lavish incentives for developing cars that run on alternative fuels.

    Also…

    2. ADM has apparently not contributed money to Obama, but during his first year in office he traveled on the company’s private jets at least twice. All told, Obama took twenty-three flights on corporate planes; after some atypically bad press for accepting the flights, Obama imposed a ban at his office on privately subsidized travel.

    As I stated in the story, his state’s interests align with being in favor of corn based ethanol, but it’s time to take a look at the reality of a fuel that simply isn’t sustainable or smart.

    Also, how does one explain this statement given his opposition to sugar cane based ethanol?

    “Corn-based ethanol is not optimal. I’ve been a big supporter of corn-based ethanol. I come from a corn state — Illinois — and it’s a good transitional technology, but the truth is, it is not as efficient as what the Brazilians are doing with sugar cane.”

    It’s obvious he’s not picking the pragmatic solution here.

    So no, I’m not kidding. :-)

  4. Tully Says:
    June 23rd, 2008 at 11:04 am

    Hey, I’m all in favor of ethanol subsidies!

    Oops, wrong kind.

  5. ExiledIndependent Says:
    June 23rd, 2008 at 12:20 pm

    How is “Big Corn” better than “Big Oil?” Both manipulate our government for their own benefit.

    At any rate, using food crops for fuel is a horrible, horrible idea. We need to get our ethanol from non-consumable sources. Otherwise the price of food will begin to reflect the overinflated prices we’re paying for gas.

  6. TheMiddle Says:
    June 23rd, 2008 at 5:29 pm

    “Big Corn.” Theres a joke in there somewhere.

  7. Brian Says:
    June 24th, 2008 at 6:41 am

    The welfare president…. corp and individual. I can’t wait!

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