ST. LOUIS — The persistent drought is taking a toll on producers of ethanol, with corn becoming so scarce that 20 ethanol plants have halted production.
The Renewable Fuels Association, a trade group, provided data showing that of the nation’s 211 ethanol plants, 20 have ceased production over the past year, including five in January. Most remain open, with workers performing maintenance-type tasks. But ethanol production probably won’t resume until after 2013 corn is harvested in late August or September.
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Wouldn't it be just like America and it's lobbying interests to make Ethanol a priority to food. Growing gasoline is insane.
I'm a huge greenie but even I think that burning food for energy is nuts. Even ignoring the rapidly dropping price of implementing solar and wind energy, there are plenty of plants that grow in arid regions where food crops cannot be grown that work well as energy sources. The biogasoline process can be used to convert algae, wheat stalks or switchgrass into gasoline.