: "Murphy said ethanol mandates, instead of the free-market approach, along with government prerogatives like gasoline price-gouging legislation, 'exacerbate' the already high prices.
U.S. ethanol producers enjoy both tax subsidies and a tariff on imports, but the increased demand for ethanol now competes for corn with industries feeding humans and animals.
'The rush to ethanol is a competing demand to food and feeding from grain we produce in this country,' said Fritz Corrigan, president and chief executive officer of Mosaic.
Ethanol is primarily made from corn, though a more sustainable and diverse feedstock is expected in the near future if enough research and development and adequate technological advances are gained.
MTBE, a more popular and less expensive alternative to ethanol, is being voluntarily phased out now amid fears of lawsuits from leaks into groundwater, and is banned by many states.
That alone has created more demand for ethanol, bolstered further by requirements in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to double ethanol sales by 2012, according to a report by the Lundberg Survey, a market research company focused on the U.S. petroleum industry.
Ethanol has been pushed heavily as a way to lessen U.S. dependence on oil. Ethanol was first subsidized in 1978 and is currently empowered by the high prices and slow, but growing, commitment of automakers to create more vehicles that can run on E85 -- 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.
In tandem with the Chamber's message, the moderator and panelists said prices would drop and energy security would be bolstered if domestic supply was increased.