Ethanol could outgrow corn

By STEVE TARTER
of the (Peoria) Journal Star
Posted Jan 05, 2009 @ 08:32 PM

Some worry that strain on farms could build, but experts call corn-based fuel just a stepping stone

BLOOMINGTON — A funny thing happened to ethanol on its way to national stardom: The corn-based fuel became the heavy.

The U.S. government wants 11 billion gallons of ethanol this year to help offset the nation's reliance on imported oil, yet Time magazine recently described the use of cropland for fuel "an environmental and economic catastrophe."

Time's story - on former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack, President-elect Obama's choice as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture - said using so much corn for fuel was responsible for converting forests and wetlands into cropland while "jacking up food prices around the world."

That's a long way from being viewed as the environmentally friendly, made-in-the-USA alternative to foreign oil.

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