John Messelt, Fargo letter: There is a better way than ethanol

I read an article last week from the Washington Post online site that had the following commentary regarding ethanol production.

"The government's support for ethanol is instructive. In 2006,

20 percent of the U.S. corn crop went for ethanol; the share is rising. Driven by demand for feed and fuel, corn prices have soared. With food costs increasing, inflation has worsened. The program is mostly an income transfer from consumers to producers and ethanol refiners. Americans' oil use and greenhouse gas output haven't declined."

This isn't the only article on this subject - doing a simple Web search will actually provide you hundreds to choose from that provide a similar grim reality to the ethanol-production story. And I hope the recent groundbreaking of the new Casselton, N.D., ethanol plant brings this topic up as a major issue for our state.

When you put this article in the context of North Dakota's support and development of ethanol plants and other biofuel investments, and the fact that fuel economy isn't a certainty using ethanol-based fuel, you have a disturbing story. While a new ethanol plant in North Dakota sounds great to some (at first), who is it really great for besides North Dakota corn farmers and the state's short-term economy? Does using ethanol get you better gas mileage? Nope. Does using ethanol hit your pocket book any less? Nope. Is it really as "green" as sold? Nope.

So here is the question I hope our state officials and business developers will seriously ponder:

Is it really worth helping inflate global food staple prices for a short-term financial gain? Is it really worth being a contributor to this global problem?

We live in a world where 2.7 billion people live on less than $2 a day. Raising food prices for them will be catastrophic. As a proud resident of North Dakota, and our world, I hope we will not look back years from now and shake our heads in disbelief, saying "What were we thinking?" Legislators and business developers of North Dakota, there has to be a better solution.