Hillary and Obama’s biofuels policy driving America down the wrong road

So Hillary has had it. Obama is the de facto Democratic nominee. And what a depressing spectacle the whole thing has been – and I’m not talking about the mutual slagging-off contest. I’m talking the policy – such as it was.

At the first electoral test, the Iowa caucuses, both candidates came out strongly in support of government subsidies for corn-based biofuels. The US subsidises fuel made from maize by 51 cents a US gallon – that’s about 7p a litre - and Iowa is a major corn growing state.

But in North Carolina this week they began talking about “reviewing” and “re-tooling” the policy. Funny that, until you realise that North Carolina is a livestock state and a major importer of corn to feed all those hogs, cows and steers. The biofuels programme has contributed to the massive increase in corn prices and dairy, pig and beef producers are hurting.

The issue is complex. Biofuels reduce dependence on fossil fuels. But they also take land, water and energy to produce – especially in temperate climates like the US and Europe. That has helped to push up world food prices by around 20% according to recent reports.

There is an answer: Brazil has been producing biofuels for decades and a third of vehicle fuel used in Brazil is sugar-based alcohol. For it’s not just the Brazilian chicas who are hot – the tropical Brazilian sun converts more efficiently into plant energy than it’s pallid equivalent in North America or Europe. The Brazilians have also been perfecting distilling and production techniques so they are by far the most efficient producers.

But can they sell to the US or Europe? No. The freedom-loving Americans are more interested in protecting their corn farmers – clobbering stock farmers and consumers in the process. Europe also has a tariff of between 10 and 20 euro cents a litre, which disadvantages imports, but is not quite as bad as free-trading America which subsidises biofuel exports as well, distorting international as well as domestic markets. 

Of course we should all be importing biofuels from Brazil. But neither Obama nor Hillary has made the other obvious point - that Americans should consume less fuel. Indeed, Hillary has been trucking around the primary states in gas-swigging SUVs to show America’s white trash how like them she really us.

Only candidate is against the biofuel subsidies. John McCain. 
    
Phillip Oppenheim