Minnesota Free Market Institute

Minnesota Free Market Institute senior policy fellow Craig Westover writes at MinnPost.com:

Instability in the oil-producing areas of the world is often cited as a major reason for creating a domestic ethanol industry by subsidizing the industry and supporting it by mandating the ethanol content of gasoline at the pump. Corn-based fuel grown right here in Minnesota, so the reasoning goes, contributes to the American security and energy independence. But other news stories this week raise questions about the absoluteness of that claim. Spring planting for Minnesota farmers is behind schedule, and delays in getting the state's corn crop in the ground can have significant negative effects on the state's corn yield and hence ethanol production.

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