Iowa-Minded Candidates Learn to Love Ethanol

To a presidential candidate who has an eye on Iowa—and who among them can afford not to?—ethanol is a political home run. The Hawkeye State hosts 28 refineries, and every one of the ’08 hopefuls has duly supported some form of ethanol subsidies. This despite the fact that, as Politico notes, reservations about ethanol as an alternative energy source have reached a fever pitch. 

What 's being ignored by Iowa-minded candidates is concern by many environmentalists that switching to ethanol could do more harm than good—by polluting the land, upping prices on corn, giving off disproportionate amounts of carbon dioxide and requiring massive fossil fuels to produce. One environmentalist called the craze “very irresponsible.” (More climate change stories.)