EWG supports the development of the biofuels industry in the United States. But we do not support its expansion at all cost--to water pollution, wildlife, trade, food prices here and abroad--and with no thought given to these impacts, much less to mitigating them.

But why think when you can just...grow?

President Bush will propose in tonight's State of the Union message a federal mandate to add 35 billion gallons of alternative fuel per year to gasoline by 2017. The Corn Belt is already undergoing a wildcatting shift towards corn-based ethanol production as a result of the mandate in the 2005 energy bill that requires 7.5 billion gallons of ethanol and biodiesel per year by 2012. We may well see 30 percent of our corn used for ethanol this year already--the environmental implications of which are worrisome enough. But a near-fivefold increase? Those environmental impacts would be profound--especially since no one has charted a compelling, commercially feasible transition to more sustainable raw ingredients than corn, namely cellulosic sources like switchgrass or prairie grasses.

Several senators have proposed a 30 billion gallon goal for 2020. The president is simply outbidding them.

The steps the president is proposing to cut fuel consumption, on the other hand, by raising fuel economy standards for cars and trucks, are infinitely more timid. It amounts to a 5 percent increase in mpg.

We're seeing a lot of this these days in energy policy, on both sides of the aisle.

Unrestrained biofuels boosterism is easy. Taking on our gas guzzling car fleet is hard. Faced with that choice, what's a politician to do?

Surge.