Western New York -- Once billed as a solution to our energy crisis, ethanol is being blamed for much more, from higher food prices to the struggling economy. | Special Report: The Great Ethanol Debate

The net energy contribution of corn ethanol is debatable, the environmental consequences of devoting more land to corn are clearly negative, ethanol subsidies are draining the federal treasury during a period of fiscal distress AND we’re adding to the burdens of the world’s poor. Why do we persist?

For more on ethanol, we've launched a comprehensive section devoted to this ethanol debate on 13WHAM.com with video, stats, figures, editorials, blogs and more.

It’s hard to save money at the pump when your tax dollars have already paid for so much of the fuel you’re pumping.

Corn-based ethanol has proven to be a much different animal than what we’d hoped. So what will lawmakers do about it – especially considering many of them have paved the way for corn-based ethanol's proliferation?

Ethanol was initially described as a “clean-energy solution,” but there are legitimate concerns about just how green it is.

“Corn-based ethanol is transitional,” says Dr. Larry Walker of Cornell University, whose team of researchers are working on the biofuels that could replace corn-based ethanol.