While doing my usual news-surfing I came across this headline: “U.S. Lawmakers Push Sugar As Fuel Source“:

With the market for corn-based ethanol booming, lawmakers from sugar-producing U.S. states are hoping that beet and cane growers can soon jump onto the renewable fuel bandwagon.

They cite the model of Brazil, which produces ethanol made from sugar cane. But critics, pointing out that sugar is much cheaper in Brazil than in the United States, question whether the economics of sugar-based ethanol would work in America.

Seems reasonable enough, right? Here comes the catch…

“It would be absurd in 10 years if we’re doing 60 billion gallons of ethanol, and the only crop in America that’s not participating is sugar,” said Sen. Norm Coleman, a Minnesota Republican and one of Congress’ leading champions of sugar-based ethanol.

Coleman is backing legislation that would encourage the use of renewable fuels, including the 100 million-gallon mandate for sugar-based ethanol.

Minnesota happens to lead the nation in beet sugar production, & when you hear a congressman say “encourage”, they mean “subsidize”.

Jack Roney, an economist with the American Sugar Alliance, agreed that the government would need to step in to stimulate a sugar-to-ethanol industry.

LOL. Might as well ask a mugger what he thinks about disarming his victims a.k.a. “gun control”.

“It would take a combination of consumption mandates to ensure that the demand would be there, and conceivably some production incentives to use sugar ethanol,” he said (all emphasis mine).

“Consumption mandates” & “production incentives”. In other words, supply and demand are to both be artificially propped up by the government. Figures…

This is how government works, folks. Narrow interests say “jump”, & politicians not only ask “how high?”, but ask for permission before coming down. No matter what the issue is, you can bet there’ll be a corporatist angle. I’m all for getting off of oil, particularly because of who stands to gain from a continuation of the status quo, but we have to make damn sure that we’re not just trading one group of bagmen of the State for another.