Venezuela, Brazil at odds over ethanol

Not long ago, President Hugo Chavez was embarking on ambitious plans to produce ethanol as the eco-fuel of choice. But within the past two months, the biofuel has suddenly become a villain for him and a major point of friction with Brazilian leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Their dispute, raised in part by a U.S.-Brazil ethanol agreement, threatens to overshadow a South American energy summit starting Monday in Venezuela, where Chavez will be seeking support for projects ranging from a regional bank to a natural gas group similar to OPEC aimed at reducing Washington’s influence in Latin America.
The United States and Brazil are the world’s two biggest producers of ethanol – an alcohol-based fuel made from crops like sugar cane or corn. They signed an “alliance” last month to promote ethanol production in the region and create international quality standards to allow it to be traded as a commodity like oil.

Chavez said last week that Venezuela was working on an alternative proposal to “overthrow” the U.S.-Brazil agreement, which he characterizes as an ethanol “cartel” that will monopolize arable lands and starve the poor – criticisms shared by his Cuban ally, Fidel Castro.

“Bush’s plan is impossible,” Chavez said Sunday during his weekly television and radio program.

Silva has good reason to work with Washington. Brazil’s sugar cane-based ethanol is far cheaper to produce than the U.S. variety made from corn, but gaining access to the huge U.S. market depends on persuading Bush and the U.S. Congress to reduce tariffs. Brazil, already the world’s top ethanol exporter, also has plenty of land to produce more.

However, even if all arable land on Earth were turned over to biofuel production, it still would not meet world demand for oil, so Chavez is joined by many experts who caution that promoting ethanol as a substitute for gasoline is environmentally misguided.

Akron Beacon