EWG recycles a bunch of ethanol myths, calls it a "study"
What do you get when Big Oil and corporate activists team up to attack farmers and consumers?
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) and its new (*ahem*), “study” bashing ethanol and corn farmers.
The (*cough*) “study” comes out just as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is set to issue a final ruling on its proposal to slash the amount of homegrown ethanol blended into our fuel supply as called for in the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).
The latest from EWG, who once referred to farmers as “drunks at a bar,” trots out the same old tired cliches and myths about ethanol. It does get old always having to push back against the same factually wrong talking points over and over again, but if EWG wants to keep setting up these myths, we’ll keep knocking them down.
Here are the top 5 whoppers from EWG’s latest (LOL!) “study”:
Myth: Ethanol diverts 40 percent of the nation’s corn crop to fuel, not food.
Truth: For every bushel of corn made into ethanol, we get 2.8 gallons of ethanol fuel for our vehicles and 18 pounds of distillers’ grain, a high-protein livestock feed for our food supply. Only the starch portion of the corn kernel is used to make ethanol, leaving the rest for livestock feed and consumer products. Arguing that ethanol takes food off of our table is a cheap and disingenuous scare tactic.
Myth: Ethanol has driven up the price of corn.
Truth: Corn prices are right around where they were when the current version of the RFS became law in 2007. Any spike in corn prices since the RFS can be attributed to drought and other market factors, not the RFS.
Myth: Farmers have plowed up millions of acres of wetlands to grow more corn for ethanol.
Truth: The EWG report greatly exaggerates and uses disputed assumptions about land use changes. In fact, according to the DNR, Minnesota actually gained 2,080 acres of wetlands from 2006-11.
Myth: Corn ethanol has actually accelerated global warming compared to gasoline.
Truth: Unlike EWG, the Department of Energy (DOE) relies on peer-reviewed research. DOE clearly determines through its GREET model that ethanol cuts greenhouse gas emissions by 34 percent compared to gasoline.
Myth: Corn ethanol has actually accelerated global warming compared to gasoline.
Truth: Yes, that myth should appear twice in this list because it is completely preposterous, especially when you consider the rising greenhouse gas emissions from tar sands oil and fracking.
The well-funded EWG and its friends in the oil industry are coming hard at farmers and renewable fuels supporters. But don’t mistake our exasperated sighs with indifference — farmers and biofuels advocates are fighting back and will keep fighting back as long as lies are still being touted as truth by the likes of EWG.
