Ethanol Has Its Place, but Not in Gasoline

U.S. oil production has reached a 20-year high and, since March 2012, demand for gasoline has fallen almost 5 percent. So why have prices at the pump jumped? From mid-December through the end of February they rose almost 20 percent, though they have declined a bit in recent weeks. Some of the blame for the increase goes to the federal mandate on ethanol use in the U.S. fuel supply.

Fuel blenders are required to mix 13.8 billion gallons of ethanol with gasoline this year, under an energy bill passed in 2005 and revised two years later -- at a time before domestic energy production surged and motorists began using less gasoline.