Not surprisingly, Shell Oil Co. president John
Hofmeister isn’t a fan of ethanol. Appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press on June 11,
along with two other Big Oil execs, Hofmeister explained that when it comes
to ethanol, he prefers the blended variety, which contains 5 to 15 percent
of the corn-based fuel, to E85, which is 85 percent ethanol. If consumers begin demanding more ethanol, Hofmeister
argued, they can expect the price of eggs, bacon, hamburgers, Doritos, and
Fritos to start climbing. “There’s only so much corn to go
around,” Hofmeister said. It’s a strange argument, to be sure, given the
current price of gasoline, and it’s unlikely to resonate in Illinois,
where there’s almost no room left on the E85 bandwagon. Republican
House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Democratic U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and
Barack Obama have all boosted the fuel, and it’s hard to think of any
candidates who haven’t sworn allegiance to King Corn. Many scientists, however, aren’t ethanol fans,
either. David Pimentel, an ecology expert at Cornell University, calls
ethanol production a “loser” because it uses up too much energy
and requires too much of a taxpayer subsidy. Whatever Big Oil’s stance on ethanol and
biofuels, you can be sure that it won’t miss an opportunity to make a
buck. In Chicago, Shell is taking on a pilot project with the world’s
No. 1 automobile maker, General Motors, to gauge consumer interest in
alternative fuels — including E85. Henry Banta, a longtime oil-company watchdog and
Washington, D.C., lawyer, believes that it makes sense for the automotive
industry to develop vehicles that run on flexible fuels. As far as what Shell hopes to gain from the Windy
City endeavor, Banta says, that’s anybody’s guess. Is this
effort akin to tobacco companies’ halfhearted anti-teen-smoking
public-relations campaigns? Banta says he doesn’t like to ascribe
motives to people, not even oil-company execs, for whom he rarely has a
kind word. Banta concedes that Shell’s Hofmeister may be
right that ethanol isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. “Their position on that is probably
correct,” Banta says, adding, “I can’t believe I’m
being quoted saying something good [about them].”
This article appears in Jun 22-28, 2006.
