In The Media

John Carey

Doug Koplow got a nasty surprise at his last Harvard Business School reunion. He’d missed the Saturday speakers because of family duties, but at the dinner that evening, he got an earful. “I was the token environmentalist in my class,” he recalls, “so everyone came up to tell me that there had been…

Published: Aug 8, 2007

Jeff Goodell

Article cites subsidy value per gallon of ethanol from our October 2006 study for IISD...."So why bother? Because the whole point of corn ethanol is not to solve America’s energy crisis, but to generate one of the great political boondoggles of our time. Corn is already the most subsidized crop in…

Published: Aug 7, 2007

July 23, 2007.  "No to Nukes: It's tempting to turn to nuclear plants to combat climate change, but alternatives are safer and cheaper," Los Angeles Times editorial page.

Published: Jul 23, 2007

Aduin Kirkebride McElroy

A general introduction to the issue of oil subsidies, and how reforms could benefit ethanol. It references Earth Track's work (extract below), thought makes only a passing mention of our detailed work on ethanol subsidies though released just a year prior to this article...."Instead of addressing…

Published: Apr 30, 2007

The Economist

Mentions biofuels subsidy study done for IISD's Global Subsidies Initiative:"But corn-based ethanol, the sort produced in America, is neither cheap nor green. It requires almost as much energy to produce (more, say some studies) as it releases when it is burned. And the subsidies on it cost…

Published: Apr 4, 2007

Ben Leiberman

References Earth Track's detailed 2006 review of US biofuel subsidies published by the IISD:..."This mandate comes on top of other pro-ethanol provisions, most notably a 51 cent per gallon tax credit. Other incentives include payments to corn farmers and subsidies for small ethanol producers. These…

Published: Mar 28, 2007

Moira Herbst

...More corn for ethanol producers, of course, means less for livestock. Ranchers in wide-open Western states and pig farmers in the rural stretches of the South and Midwest are finding their businesses slammed by policies cooked up in Washington.Hitch says the feedstock that's primarily made from…

Published: Mar 17, 2007

Mark Anslow

Detailed overview of the ecological challenges of biofuels, and includes discussion of subsidies as well, referencing Earth Track's 2006 review for the IISD.

Published: Feb 19, 2007

William Sweet

January 2007.  "Loser: Corn-o-copia," by William Sweet, IEEE Spectrum.

Published: Jan 31, 2007

Lisa Margonelli

Last week, in his State of the Union address, President Bush proposed to spend $65 billion from the government’s general fund to double the size of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve...Rather than increase the size of our petroleum reserve, we should address its problems. One of these became obvious…

Published: Jan 30, 2007

Profile and responses to questions from Grist staff; article is part of Grist's Interactivist column focusing on people working in innovative ways to address environmental challenges. 

Published: Jan 29, 2007

Jerry Taylor

..."Cutting oil consumption in any significant manner means increased reliance on ethanol and other biofuels because they are easily the most cost-competitive alternative to gasoline on the market. Accordingly, it's worth noting that the president's own Department of Agriculture reports that…

Published: Jan 24, 2007

Mark Clayton

...Other economists say the industry's federal subsidies are far higher. They average about $39 billion annually if items such as defense of oil lanes in the Persian Gulf, guarding domestic infrastructure like the Alaska Pipeline, and paying to maintain the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve are…

Published: Jan 18, 2007

Tom Philpott

This article provides a detailed and interesting history of the origins of US ethanol subsidies and ethanol promotion. It should be read in full. We were happy that our work on ethanol subsidies was useful in the write-up as well:...In a landmark study this year for the Geneva-based International…

Published: Dec 6, 2006

The Economist

Article mentions the biofuels subsidy study done by Earth Track for IISD's Global Subsidies Initiative...."Other government policies ensure that making ethanol from corn is a lucrative business, despite lingering concerns that the manufacturing process consumes almost as much energy as the…

Published: Nov 16, 2006

Jim Lobe

 Despite an explosion of private investment in the U.S. liquid biofuels industry, taxpayers are contributing around seven billion dollars a year in subsidies which could be better used for other energy- and environment-saving technologies, according to a major new report released here…

Published: Oct 25, 2006

Karen Charman

The review of plant economics and subsidies (and therefore the references to Earth Track's work on nuclear subsidies) was included in the first part of this article. Part 1 is accessible here; the second part, addressing reliability and energy security issues can be found here. Excerpt from…

Published: Jun 1, 2006

Amory Lovins

Detailed review of nuclear economics and constraints by Amory Lovins. Among the many detailed points made, the article also mentions our work:"For illustration, Figure 3 optionally adds back windpower’s PTC but not the pre-2005 subsidies received by central stations, especially nuclear power. Those…

Published: Dec 25, 2005

Steve Tidrick

Detailed look at the hierarchy of subsidies within the US federal government, using the analogy of Dante's Inferno.  A great summary when the article first appeared in the mid-1990s, and the core issues raised sadly remain as central challenges today. The paper does cite some of my earliest…

Published: May 29, 1995