It's been a hectic, heady week in Washington DC for proponents and opponents of federal support for ethanol. First you have the EPA moving toward a science based analysis of ethanol production's total contribution to green house gas emissions, and then Agriculture Committee Chairman Colin Peterson's rant and pouting position on climate change legislation.

Today sees the release of a new Friends of the Earth report, Boon to Bad Biofuels, that estimates subsidies to ethanol and biodiesel totaled $9.5 billion in 2008. These subsidies will climb to $60 billion by 2022 if current, flawed policy stays in place.

In January, the Environmental Working Group issued a related analysis detailing how corn-based ethanol has accounted for fully three-quarters of the tax benefits and two-thirds of all federal subsidies allotted for renewable energy sources in 2007. Meanwhile, solar, wind and other renewable energy sources have struggled to gain significant market share with modest federal support.

"The much touted new investment--$14.5 billion over ten years--in renewable energy in the recently passed stimulus package pales in comparison to the amount of subsidies the FOE report reveals are still going to ethanol. In two years we will spend more on corn-ethanol than we will invest over the next decade on solar, wind, and other renewable energy option. It is clear that current policy is taking America in the opposite direction of a true renewable energy policy," said Craig Cox, EWG Midwest Vice President from Ames, IA about the FOE report.