Ethanol is a flawed source of energy that is intensifying global hunger as more corn is being converted into motor fuels, Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., says.

A proponent of alternate uses of coal to meet energy demands, Rahall spelled out his opposition to ethanol in a recent address before City Club of Cleveland, a forum series that has included such distinguished past speakers as Ronald Reagan, Douglas MacArthur, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Bill Clinton.

Paraphrasing the mocking words of Marie Antoinette before the French Revolution of more than two centuries ago, Rahall quipped, “Let them eat ethanol ... simply will not do.”

“If our government and governments around the world cannot find better solutions to rising gasoline prices than those that exacerbate the growing food crisis, perhaps policymakers deserve no better fate than that suffered by Ms. Antoinette,” he said.

Corn-based biofuels have been touted as a means of severing the dependence on foreign oil, but Rahall told City Club that studies and media reports have suggested rising food prices and shortages can be linked to ethanol production.

“Corn-based ethanol has helped to create a food-versus-fuel dilemma,” the 3rd District congressman from Beckley said.

“Although this notable ethanol drawback has been playing out most dramatically in foreign lands — largely developing nations, where the margin between survival and starvation is slimmest — it is also showing up, ominously, in the shopping carts of American working families.

“And it is coming at a most inopportune time, when our economy is badly faltering.”

On a Web site, the Renewable Fuels Association acknowledges that higher ethanol production is pushing a real market-driven price for corn but says the demand for corn to produce the alternate fuel hasn’t had a noticeable impact on retail food prices.

Nor does ethanol production lower the amount of food available for human consumption, since the fuel is derived primarily from field corn fed to livestock and is not digestible by humans.

Moreover, the group says, the amount of corn actually destined for tables is a tiny fraction of the total corn supply. Three years ago, for instance, cereal made up a mere 1 percent of the total corn use.

And the majority of corn exported by this nation is used to feed livestock in developed countries.

As oil reached a record $135 per barrel, Rahall said America’s energy policy is making life tougher for families.

“America’s energy security will come in the form of a comprehensive energy plan that boosts efficiency, invests in a wide variety of fuel alternatives — including advanced fossil fuel technologies like coal-to-liquids that address emissions — and respects the complex interconnections of a worldwide economy, while taking into account how tinkering with energy fads can wreak worldwide havoc,” he said.

Rahall said food shortages are triggering unrest in “young and fragile democracies,” adding ethanol cannot be seen as a means of security in such times.

“As we watch violence erupt from corner to corner around the globe, we see that the growth of the ethanol industry is spreading the kind of instability that draws American money and military might into foreign lands, rather than securing the peace that would bring out troops home,” he said.

“The rush into ethanol has been a serious misstep. We had better look carefully before we leap again.”

— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com