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Originally Posted by Allch Chcar
The issue is whether we should allow E15 to be sold like E85 so that people can choose to use it. No one is suggesting we mandate E15 usage.
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The mandated use of ethanol is through elimination of alternatives.
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What should be mandated or encouraged is FFVs from the manufacturer that can run on Gasoline or Ethanol or a mixture of the two. Right now it's mostly fleet sales and light duty trucks that are FFVs and that means a large portion of new vehicles cannot run E85, (without an aftermarket conversion of some sort).
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I wouldn't argue that a percentage of vehicles be required to be FFV. I purchased FFV with the intent of making use of it. However, there is no supply of E85 in my area....none. IMO E15 is a direct result of the poor sales of E85.
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BTW. Considering the Renewable fuels standard was adopted in 2001, there is no direct correlation between the mandate of Ethanol and your chart. You need a chart of domestic Ethanol consumption to even consider doing that. Another factor you ignored is the cost of Diesel. Please compare all three next time. 
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My chart was not an attempt to reflect the change in the price of corn based directly on its mandated use. It was merely a chart to reflect the change in the cost of a bushel of corn since 2000. In fact, the whole point is that there are far more considerations than the direct cost of corn use in ethanol.
"There's no such thing as a free lunch"
Corn, being a commodity, is effected by many more factors than mere supply & demand....some speculative and some uncontrollable. The supply has not changed substantially in the past decade...some years up & some years down. As a result, demand and speculation cause the price to increase. The increased price is passed along to all corn based products. That, IMO, is the reason that corn is such a horrible choice as an alternative fuel for everyone except those directly benefiting from the corn market.
I'm all for alternative & renewable fuels and would gladly pay more for them if it lessons our dependence on those who would do us harm given the opportunity. However, I honestly feel that ethanol was never intended as that solution.....ethanol is all about special interests taking advantage of the opportunity.....which is in essence speculation in its purest form. I fear that the more time and effort that we spend on the corn solution, the further it takes us from a real viable portable energy solution.