Does ethanol in Iowa cause deforestation in Brazil? Maized and confused

The old law of 'unintended consequences'. Follow the money and again you see how corruption and misinformation works it's way into the data we are presented. - MBC

http://www.economist.com/daily/columns/greenview/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14205727&fsrc=nwl

"...claims these days is that growing maize to make ethanol causes indirect changes in land use by altering the incentives of other, often foreign, farmers..."

"...The benchmark paper on this, published in Science in February 2008, argues that, if such changes in land use are taken into account, ethanol is twice as carbon-intensive as petrol in the short run. Making ethanol and burning it in a car (without land changes) emits 20% less carbon dioxide than refining and burning petrol. But planting a hectare of ethanol causes someone to clear land for food crops elsewhere. That ethanol crop must provide that modest 20% reduction for 167 years to achieve a net carbon reduction. By then, of course, it is far too late to mitigate climate change..."

"...As much as the ethanol lobby claims to be surrounded by deceitful enemies (among them the oil industry), it is in fact protected by powerful congressmen. Indeed, existing mandates for ethanol production look set to get bigger in climate-change legislation coming through America’s Congress..."

"...Maize grows in crucial states, some of them “swing” states like Iowa and Ohio. Barack Obama thus recently renewed his support for American, maize-based ethanol. Letting Brazilian ethanol, made from sugarcane, into the market tariff-free would be cheaper and probably greener. But that, of course, is not on. Eventually, new crops such as switchgrass and new technologies that allow whole plants to be converted into ethanol, rather than just their sugar- or starch-rich parts, will change the equation by boosting yields. In the meantime, the truth about ethanol is murky..."