Energy

The heat is on again in the U.S. Congress to take action before the end of the year. Next on the list is whether or not to extend the ethanol subsidies.

First up to bat in the debate are Senators Dianne Feinstein and Jon Kyl calling for end end to the ethanol subsidies.

A recently-released policy paper by Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy is questioning the United States’ biofuels policy, and rightly so. The paper, “Fundamentals of a Sustainable U.S. Biofuels Policy,” challenges the economic, environmental and logistical basis for ethanol production.

While President Obama is expected to focus on challenges in Afghanistan and a hefty new health care bill this week, many in the farm community are growingly concerned about the future of cap-and-trade legislation, and its implications for farmers. According to University of Illinois agricultural economist and environmental policy guru Madhu Khanna, there are both positive and negative consequences for American farmers in a climate bill that would define the nation’s first-ever mandatory limit on heat-trapping gases, in an effort to slow-down global warming effects.