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3) Sugarcane ethanol would become a model technology, proving that the market for clean fuels would be sustainable and profitable. This will spur development of other technologies, and businesses are ready to invest.
STARR, 10
[Sean Charles, J.D. DePaul University School of Law; “SWEET REWARDS: HOW U.S. TRADE LIBERALIZATION AND PENETRATION OF BRAZILIAN ETHANOL INTO THE U.S. MARKET CAN STIMULATE AMERICA'S DOMESTIC ECONOMY AND STRENGTHEN AMERICAS INTERNATIONAL INFLUENCE,” 8 DePaul Bus. & Comm. L.J. 275]
Invigorating the business model of the green technology industry by making it profitable and competitive would logically stimulate alternate industry models. If consumers and automakers respond opportunistically to one viable source of alternative and renewable energy, it follows that they would respond similarly to others. That response could be driven by American innovation. Why all this has yet to occur, stems from many factors including a general resistance to changing the models of consumption Americans have grown accustomed to. No alternative models of energy have proved as efficient or enduring, nor occupied as much a place in American life as oil. All that could change with one example of an economic and technological feasibility alternative; Brazilian sugarcane ethanol can be that example. The market for infusion and growth is ripe for such a change; never in American history have so many diverse sectors of the population, from corporation to consumer, been as educated and interested in alternative and renewable energy. Wal-Mart, as emblematic as any American company, recently committed itself to a company-wide investment in green technologies.83 Included in Wal-Mart's plan is doubling the fuel efficiency of its "7,000 huge Class 8 trucks that get about 6 miles per gallon." 84 Even more critical is Wal-Mart's commitment to increasing the market for green technology by integrating green products on its store shelves. Wal-Mart advisor Glenn Prickett of Conservation International believes this commitment "can have a revolutionary impact on the market for green technologies."85 Countless other U.S. corporations have pursued similar initiatives in recent years. General Motors recently received the "2009 Best New Green Technology" award at the Montreal Auto Show for its "Two-Mode Hybrid technology" vehicle was called "a tremendous validation of the green transformation that has been under way at General Motors," by Marc Comeau the Vice President of GM sales in Canada. 86 A Midwestern group composed of state government officials and nongovernment organizations are advocating for $2 billion out of the federal economic stimulus package to support green projects they argue are environmentally friendly and would produce 30,000 new jobs.87 Even the airline industry has instigated development of green technology with Continental Airlines recently reporting that its biofuel testing on aircraft showed no negative impact.8 What this means is that U.S. businesses views green technology as a viable industry, one that can be capitalized on while simultaneously helping to cut internal costs, passing along savings to customers, and improving the corporate image by helping the environment.
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4) Creating new markets for Latin American ethanol will open up U.S. energy policy and reduce dependence on foreign oil. This is supplemented by other policies already in place.
ROBERTS AND WALSER, 13
[James, Research Fellow for Economic Freedom and Growth in the Center for International Trade and Economics at The Heritage Foundation; and Ray, PhD., Senior Policy Analyst for Latin America at Heritage Foundation; “The Hagel, Kerry, and Brennan Senate Confirmation Hearings: U.S. Policy for the Western Hemisphere,” 1/18, http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2013/01/kerry-hagel-and-brennan-senate-confirmation-hearings-us-policy-for-the-western-hemisphere]
Energy pessimism in 2008 has given way to more optimistic scenarios in 2013. Rising proven reserves in the Americas, new recovery techniques, and “the shale gas revolution” are fundamentally altering the global energy balance. They offer the prospect of a favorable shifting of the axis of energy production toward the U.S. and the Americas and a chance for the U.S. to better control its energy destiny by lessening geopolitical dependence on volatile Middle East imports. Building upon the modest Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas, the second Obama Administration needs a dynamic policy process and forum to focus on broad, regional energy opportunities. Access to the U.S. market for Brazilian ethanol could bolster ties with Brazil and help end wasteful domestic U.S. subsidies for corn ethanol. The U.S. should advance sustainable, free market–based policies to promote energy investments and cooperation as well as sharing cutting-edge technology. Developing critical infrastructure such as pipelines (notably the U.S.–Canada Keystone XL pipeline), refineries, trans-border electrical grids, and ports is also critical to U.S. and global economic interests and should be pursued when supported by sound economics.
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5) There is a direct trade-off between oil and ethanol use. If ethanol becomes competitive, it will take the place of oil.
SPECHT, 12
[Jonathan, Legal Advisor for Pearlmaker Holsteins, Inc. B; J.D., Washington University in St. Louis; “Raising Cane: Cuban Sugarcane Ethanol’s Economic and Environmental Effects on the United States,” 4/24, http://environs.law.ucdavis.edu/issues/36/2/specht.pdf]
How important such governmental support will be to the survival of the domestic ethanol industry, however, will depend on the other major external factor affecting the ethanol industry: commodity prices. According to one economic analysis, if oil prices stay at or above $105 per barrel, even with low levels of governmental support, the U.S. ethanol industry will “move into high gear.”144 Besides petroleum prices, the other major commodity price variable with an effect on American ethanol production is the price of corn.145 Market conditions are most favorable for U.S. ethanol producers when corn prices are low and petroleum prices are high, as was the case in the United States between 2001 and 2006.146 For both policy and market reasons, the 2000s were a good decade for U.S. ethanol producers. In the first five years of that decade, both production and consumption of ethanol doubled in the United States.147 In 2012, however, corn prices rose sharply as a result of that summer’s drought, reducing profitability for ethanol producers. This commodity price shift leaves the future of domestic corn-based ethanol production in question. The shift was particularly damaging because it followed the expiration of policies favoring domestic ethanol production at the end of 2011 and also because Congress has yet to pass a new Farm Bill.
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