Ethanol Vs Natural Gas

Energy Independence is high on agenda in the US government list but as Mr Bryce observes, the recent activities / actions are taking us to an opposite direction rather than moving towards the sought independence. Mr Bryce's concern is over the US energy politics and debate over the cap-and-trade legislation that recently passed the house. He records that while Natural gas and oil produces about 98 times more energy than Ethanol in US, Ethanol gets around 190 times more subsidies.

Further, the new bill seeks to remove subsidies from drilling which may mean and increased cost of Natural Gas. Growth Energy which is an ethanol industry front-group, is pushing the Environmental Protection Agency to adopt a proposal that would increase the amount of ethanol blended into gasoline from the current maximum of 10% to as much as 15%. It is believed that even 10% ethanol is doing more harm than good as evident from Toyota's calling back of around 0.2 million vehicles back.

The removal of incentives on drilling is not the exact way to achieve an energy independence since that infact would mean less production and hence more imports. Robert Bryce with his book "Gusher of Lies: The Dangerous Delusions of 'Energy Independence'", is trying to a prove a point to Mr Obama and allies.