Al Gore is my NEW HERO! He expresses regret for his support for ethanol/corn subsidies... Brrr...It is cold here in Hades!

U.S. corn ethanol "was not a good policy"-Gore From Reuters:

Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore said support for corn-based ethanol in the United States was "not a good policy", weeks before tax credits are up for renewal...

"It is not a good policy to have these massive subsidies for (U.S.) first generation ethanol," said Gore, speaking at a green energy business conference in Athens sponsored by Marfin Popular Bank....

"First generation ethanol I think was a mistake. The energy conversion ratios are at best very small....

"It's hard once such a programme is put in place to deal with the lobbies that keep it going."...

He explained his own support for the original programme on his presidential ambitions.

"One of the reasons I made that mistake is that I paid particular attention to the farmers in my home state of Tennessee, and I had a certain fondness for the farmers in the state of Iowa because I was about to run for president."...

A food-versus-fuel debate erupted in 2008, in the wake of record food prices, where the biofuel industry was criticised for helping stoke food prices....

Gore said a range of factors had contributed to that food price crisis, including drought in Australia, but said there was no doubt biofuels have an effect....

"The size, the percentage of corn particularly, which is now being (used for) first generation ethanol definitely has an impact on food prices....

"The competition with food prices is real."