C Boyden Gray, the American representative to the European Union, says his country won’t be considering any ban on ethanol production for fuel. The US program has come under some fire for using a food source, corn, to make the fuel source, ethanol.
Forbes.com reports his comments came during an international conference in Brussels, Belgium:
‘The only way to stop reliance on ethanol would be to repeal its environmental benefits or to ban the use of ethanol altogether which would be very foolhardy,’ he told delegates at the International Conference on Biofuels here, adding that commodity prices would go up as a result.
Boyden Gray said the growth of ethanol production in the US grew out of market forces and its environmental benefits, not out of any policies in place.
‘The price of oil made ethanol competitive; there were environmental (reasons) to clean up air quality and ethanol is very clean,’ he said.
The ambassador adds there is a natural limit to how far current ethanol production can go before a next generation of production takes over.