For years now we’ve been told by politicians that ethanol is the future of auto fuel in America.  Politicians sing the praises of the fuel endlessly - citing it as a “renewable” resource that causes less pollution and would break our dependence on middle eastern fuel - and go about passing policies to heavily subsidize its production with our tax dollars and even mandate its use in the fuels we put in our cars.

Yet one problem with the fuel, to this point, is that it’s cost prohibitive for most Americans to use.  Even when subsidized to the point where it’s nearly $0.60/gallon cheaper than regular gasoline it still costs more to use as vehicles get fewer miles to the gallon while using it.

So you’d think that the politicians who view ethanol as The Answer! to our fuel woes would want to increase the amount of the fuel available in America to both lower the price and make it more widely available for use.  Sadly, that’s just not the case as the Senate tonight voted down an amendment to end our country’s $0.54/gallon tariff on imported ethanol.

For you North Dakota readers both Conrad and Dorgan, two men who may as well be paid celebrity endorsers for the ethanol industry, voted against dropping the tariff.

Why did these pro-ethanol people vote against dropping this tariff?  Because their stance on ethanol isn’t really about sound energy policy for America.  It’s about pandering to the big-money biofuel lobbyists who contribute millions to their campaigns.  Which is something you should remember the next time you hear some politician telling you about how we need to subsidize biofuels more or pass another law mandating their use.

If these protectionist jerks really cared about ethanol as a viable alternative to gasoline they’d drop this tariff.