Patricia A. Woertz, ADM’s new chief executive:
The idea that ethanol could one day replace more than half of gasoline is not out of the realm of possibility, either, she said, but will require successful development of ethanol from agricultural waste like corn stalks, or hardy grasses like switchgrass. The technology to efficiently produce this so-called “cellulosic†ethanol is most likely many years away. In any event, “We will be there when it’s there,†she said. “We want to intersect the future and still be a big player in the bio-energy world.â€
Well, if one REALLY wants to increase ethanol supply quickly, one would call for the removal of the onerous 54 cent a gallon tariff on imported ethanol, which would throw the game wide open to the 100 or so countries across the world, including many in our own hemisphere such as Brazil, eager to produce sugar cane ethanol (which is 5 times more efficient to make than ethanol from corn, and thus cheaper) rather than being one of the biggest opponents of its removal wouldn’t one?
Just saying.