The problems with ethanol don’t end there, though. The congressional mandate to put ethanol in the pumps also pumps up your grocery bill. As Lieberman writes:

“Ethanol use at current levels has also led to skyrocketing corn prices as the available supply is split between food and fuel uses. This has led to higher prices for corn products and things such as corn-fed meat. The U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts that the ethanol mandate will continue to apply upward pressure on food prices in the coming years. Even the price of tortillas, the dietary staple of many low-income Mexicans, has been affected.”

Faced with these facts, you might think that lawmakers would be scrambling to repeal the ethanol mandate. Instead, they’re planning to expand it. The president has announced that he wants to increase it nearly fivefold, to 35 billion gallons by 2017, and ethanol supporters in Congress are ready to follow suit. That’s music to the “ears” of corn farmers, who also profit from tariffs that limit ethanol imports, such as sugar-derived ethanol from Brazil -- which, Lieberman says, is produced more efficiently than the corn-based variety.

Of course, domestic corn production can’t really support such a large boost in ethanol production, so President Bush has promised more money for “cellulosic” ethanol, which is made from wood chips, grasses, agricultural waste and other plant materials. But as Lieberman points out, the track record for federally-directed research into alternative energy isn’t good.

Has Congress forgotten the Carter-era experience with “syn-fuels,” a costly federal program to make motor fuels from coal? Not surprisingly, it was a complete failure. “If past experience with Washington’s attempts to choose alternative-energy winners and losers is any guide,” Lieberman writes, “cellulosic ethanol will fall considerably short of the current hype.”

If Congress and the president truly want to help, they should get out of the fuel business altogether. Repeal the tariff on ethanol imports and the ethanol mandate. Let the free market decide which green-friendly fuel policies prevail. Because when it comes to energy policy, ordinary Americans are the ones who belong in the driver’s seat.