ADM's ethanol advantages

The editor's column in the Jan. 9 issue (page 3) discusses the scientific misconduct case of Woo Suk Hwang and stem cells. In that same issue, there is an article on Archer Daniels Midland (page 32). The most telling line in the entire article mentioned that ADM's "other agriculture-based products enjoy a head start from more complex natural materials."

That's not the only head start ADM enjoys. C&EN omitted the federal tax credit for ethanol-doped gasoline. In 1997, ADM was basically handed an estimated $385 million via a subsidy that benefits neither taxpayers nor the environment. For every gallon of gas sold in the U.S. that was doped with ADM's ethanol, the federal government handed over 5.4 cents. In five years' time, this amounted to more than $1.9 billion, not figuring in a gain in gasoline sales or market share-a very conservative estimate.

Ethanol provides no emissions benefit to any car with an oxygen sensor. In fact, a 1996 EPA study found a simple tune-up provided a greater improvement in emissions. That 10-year-old study leads to another point: Newer cars have even better emissions controls. So despite spending thousands on emissions controls for cars, meaning a closed-loop feedback system for optimized combustion, the federal government acts as if that's not good enough.

Why not give a tax break to owners of cars that don't have oxygen sensors, which has the advantage of bolstering the economy? Instead, the federal government takes a sensible cause (environmentalism) and wraps that agenda around corporate welfare. This free handout, despite scientifically valid complaints, is ignored by the general public, the mass media, and now C&EN.

The myth of oxygenated gasoline wastes federal tax money, wastes taxpayers' money at the gas pump, and gives ADM an unfair advantage in the marketplace.

Jeff Salzmann
Lancaster, N.Y.