http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/opinion/11sun1.html

There is a validative argument in placing the phrase within quotation marks... by asking the questions to the reasons ethanol was brought to market. The prevailing rational is and you
may disagree more with the former than the latter... it makes the proponents of government vis-a-vis politicians look good ie. doing their job in best trying to address the issue.

The secondary reason is that it presents the seemingly free market rational to the problem of high fuel prices; the problem is being confronted with a solution or better yet w/ what's termed the bio-alternative fuel answer... but is it? The experiment in free markets? A holy grail to oil dependency? or merely an experiment in deception?

There's is an old Sino/Chinese saying that reveals bamboo usually bends towards where it's pressured/pushed the most...

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080511/OPINION12/805110302/1002/OPINION

What we know for sure is in addition to the unintended consequences stemming from "the solution,"
amongst which and hence forth to why it's falling out of favor, that ethanol wouldn't have been commercially viable w/o government mandates and subsidies including one that restricts the importation of sugar as a viability for its' procurement(ethanol). Consequentially deduction would 
lend to the fact that there's an ag.(agriculture) proponent and/or political interest that's coupled w/ this particular push for ethanol and the parties of circumspect responsible behind it.

Was it just a matter of looking good? Courting votes in terms of re-elections? A mild form of protectionism? A denial; cover-up for oil and transportation proponents for the real culprit of
high oil/fuel prices?

http://www.countercurrents.org/po-church0700405.htm     ... OR averting THE BIGGEST

flashpoint around ethanol that has nothing to do w/ and probably no one is aware of... the inability of other existing "viable alternatives" such as solar and wind to bring down the high prices of oil and the extent of our earnest efforts in diversifying our energy usage away from petroleum.