Bill could boost state economy

The successful passage of an energy bill awaiting President Bush's signature could create substantial gains for Indiana corn farmers.\nWeaning America off of foreign oil and increasing the country's native energy potential is at the heart of H.R. 6, The Energy Security Act of 2005. The 1,700 page document was recently passed by the U.S. House and Senate, and is expected to be signed into law by Bush in the days ahead. \nOne of the bill's provisions, referred to as the Renewable Fuels Standard, mandates an almost doubled annual production through 2012 of American ethanol, the clean-burning fuel additive derived from corn. For Indiana farmers who put 929 million bushels of corn on the market in 2004, the newly adopted federal requirements could mean more buyers and added returns on existing crops.\n"The state has an abundance of available resources and tax incentives for developers that are as good if not better than any state," said Weston Sedgwick, spokesman for the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. \nStill, only one ethanol plant, owned by New Energy Corporation in South Bend, currently exists in the Hoosier State. Another plant, owned by Putnam Ethanol of Westmont, Illinois, is already under construction 40 miles west of Indianapolis in Cloverdale, and the company is proposing the construction of two other facilities in northern Indiana. \n"(Eight similar projects being discussed) wouldn't create hundreds of jobs, but it would bring some new work and revenue into the state and that is always a good thing," said Sedgwick, emphasizing aspects of the governor's economic growth package aimed at luring companies, and jobs, to Indiana. \nThe impending legislation could generate as many as 200,000 jobs nationwide. About 40 positions are expected to be created in Cloverdale where 72 million gallons of ethanol are expected annually upon the plant's projected opening in 2006. That, in addition to the 100 million gallons already being produced yearly in South Bend, accounts for only a small percentage of H.R. 6's proposed nationwide mandate: 7.5 billion gallons annually through 2012.\nEthanol emerged as a serious fuel alternative when MTBE, formerly the most common additive, was banned in 2004 for contaminating drinking water. Use of the corn derivative is said to be cleaner burning and, when blended 10/90 with gasoline, compatible with any motor vehicle.\nIn a press release from the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE), executive vice president Brian Jennings applauded the forthcoming legislative measures for "recognizing the important role ethanol plays in extending America's fuel supply, moderating high gas prices, improving air quality, and decreasing our independence on foreign oil."\nThere are opponents to the Standard. \nDavid Pimentel, a Cornell University researcher, claims in a recent study that the amount of energy needed to produce ethanol is not justified by the amount of energy yielded by the ethanol itself. In conjunction with UC-Berkeley's Tad Patzek, Pimentel concluded that a 30 percent disproportion exists in the energy balance.\nIn direct opposition, the ACE claims that only 35,000 BTUs of energy are needed to produce ethanol yielding 77,000 BTUs, and that the Pimentel-Patzek study is "outrageous," outdated, and biased (dismissing Patzek's objectivity as a result of his private involvement with the oil industry).\nThe waters surrounding the new laws, as with most energy legislation, are murky. Supporters and opponents alike have questioned Congressional compromises made in recent months and fear that the overall impact of the bill has been weakened by tampering, private interest, and politicking. \nRobert Bent, professor emeritus of physics at IU, calls to attention an additional facet of the debate, one that is particularly harrowing in a modern era where famine and malnutrition are hardly things of the past.\n"You need to look at how much agricultural land would be required to meet U.S. energy needs (for ethanol)," Bent said, "and consider the morality of using fertile soil to produce fuel for transportation rather than food in a time of growing world hunger."\nRelaxed environmental regulations and the effect of rising corn prices on livestock owners who use the grain as feed also linger as potential drawbacks. The energy conundrum, federal efforts notwithstanding, continues.