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The truth regarding the ethanol debate:

1. In 1980 farmers received 62 percent of the food dollar. Today it is 37 percent.

2. In the mid 1980’s, Oil companies convinced the EPA to allow MTBE (Methyl tert-butyl ether), a by-product of petroleum refinery process, to reduce air pollution. Scientists argued MTBE is a known carcinogen and can leach into US drinking water and it did.

3. The 2005 Energy Bill, mandated MTBE be replaced with ethanol, a non-toxic biodegradable fuel, grown by Midwest corn farmers, after high levels of MTBE were found in our drinking water and in millions of Americans across the US.

4. Prior to 2005, oil companies made record profits, by creating scarcity, in their refinery production. Ethanol has killed this practice and their profits.

5. Big oil, through lobbying, are now demanding we buy ethanol from Brazil, where rainforests are being destroyed, rather from a US ethanol plant.

6. Most environmental groups and university research is funded by big monopoly corporations, for the sole purpose of destroying competition. Ask any American about ethanol and they can recite right wing Rush Limbaugh and left-wing John Oliver propaganda. Ask them about MTBE or the 2005 Energy bill and they draw a blank.

7. When a US corn farmer can sell their crops above the cost of production, the taxpayer does not have to subsidize the farmer. This allows the farmer to buy farm machinery, manufactured by US companies, in high paying jobs, and to spend their money in rural communities.

This is a David and Goliath story, not being told by MSM.

Mary Ebert

Kilkenny, Minnesota