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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tejek who wrote (403972)	8/3/2008 4:13:29 PM
From: Brumar89	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1573725

Where are the signs the ethanol boondoggle is ending?

To: tejek who wrote (403972)	8/8/2008 2:52:45 PM
From: Brumar89	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1573725

Obama aide wooed by ethanol lobby By Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington 08 August, 2008 Financial Times Ethanol boondoggle ending? Not if Obama supporter, Daschle, has anything to say about it. Daschle set for RFA advisory position Move suggests party support for sector One of Barack Obama's most important backers in Washington is in talks to become an adviser to the Renewable Fuels Association, the most powerful pro-ethanol lobby in the US capital. Tom Daschle, the former Democratic majority leader of the Senate who has long been an influential champion of the ethanol industry, said in an interview with the Financial Times that he was in talks to become an adviser to the RFA. The expected move underlines what both political and corporate proponents of the ethanol industry already believe: that despite remarks by Mr Obama that the US may have to reconsider its ethanol policy in the wake of intense criticism about the impact it has had on global food prices, the Democratic candidate and his close team of advisers fundamentally support the industry. Mr Obama's Republican rival, Arizona senator John McCain, has said he supports ethanol as an auto fuel but vehemently opposes ethanol subsidies, saying they distort the market. "I think that John McCain will probably try to shut down the ethanol industry. He's been very overt about that," Mr Daschle said. "Barack on the other hand recognises the importance of ethanol and of biofuels-- generally." When he is not acting as a surrogate for the Obama campaign, Mr Daschle works as a special policy adviser at Alston & Bird, a Washington lobby shop and law firm. The former South Dakota senator said he would not serve as a lobbyist or meet with legislators on the RFA's behalf but would be advising the lobby group on how to address concerns about ethanol's impact on the environment and global food prices as well as how the industry can make a transition from the initial phase of ethanol production to "something more sophisticated and more diverse". The former senator, whom some Washington insiders tout as a potential chief of staff to Mr Obama, sits on the board of Mascoma, a company developing technology for cellulosic ethanol technologies. Ethanol lobbyists have blamed food manufacturers and oil and gas companies for engineering attacks on the ethanol industry, including claims that dramatic increases in food prices are the result of so-called "food to fuel" mandates. A World Bank report released last month also blamed the large increase in biofuel production in the US and European Union for rising food prices that have especially burdened the poor in developing countries. "I would argue that the World Bank was influenced by a lot of the conventional wisdom at the time created in part by the oil companies and the food companies," Mr Daschle said. He cites economists who say ethanol production accounts for a 2 to 3 per cent increase in food prices, but that increases in energy costs, transport costs and other input prices such as fertiliser are chiefly res-ponsible for food price rises,