[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 3085]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       ETHANOL WILL SAVE US ALL?

  (Mr. POE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. POE. Madam Speaker, they told us that ethanol from corn would 
save us all--save us from global warming and dependence on foreign oil, 
but it just isn't so.
  The rush to till up more farmland may turn out to be a crop disaster. 
Science Magazine reports that ``using good crop land to expand biofuels 
will increase global warming.'' The reason is, now farmers will need to 
plow under more forests and massive grasslands to grow enough of that 
``savior'' corn. But doing so will release carbon stored in plants and 
soils.
  The new evidence indicates, ``after taking into account worldwide 
land use changes, corn-based ethanol will increase greenhouse gasses by 
(a staggering) 93 percent compared to gasoline over a 30-year period.''
  It is only logical that if farmland once used to grow corn that we 
eat is used to grow corn that we burn as fuel, more land will be needed 
for both agricultural production and ethanol production.
  So here comes the big wipe out of massive amounts of land, all to 
subsidize an unproven, unpredictable industry that is potentially 
hazardous to our health.
  And that's just the way it is.

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