DES MOINES, Iowa - A battle being waged in the ethanol industry pits sugar against corn, and it reaches from Florida to the Midwest to Latin America. Florida is at the center of this "energy war," and this investigative report by Les Coleman examines the history, business and political links between sugarcane-based ethanol and ethanol distilled from corn.

The long arm of Florida "Big Sugar" reaches far outside the state and across international frontiers.

Flo-Sun, through subsidiaries such as Florida Crystals and Domino Foods, has milling and refining operations around the world. The rulers of Flo-Sun are Palm Beach-based brothers Pepe and Alfonso Fanjul, whose father came to the United States on the heels of the Cuban Revolution more than a half-century ago.

The Fanjuls, naturally, have their eye on Latin America. So do their close friend and neighbor, David Koch, and his brother, Charles, who head Koch Industries. Their common goal: the importation of sugar cane-based ethanol.

Brian Jennings, executive vice president of the Midwest-corn-dominated American Coalition for Ethanol, says cane ethanol is not domestic and escapes domestic taxes.

"We don't have any sugar cane members, to my knowledge. A lot of sugar ethanol that makes its way into the United States comes through the Caribbean Basin Initiative, which does escape the tariff, the secondary tariff."

That's a 54-cent-per-gallon tax break for imported sugar ethanol. One recent piece of legislation before the U.S. Senate was an effort to repeal the fuel subsidy for corn-based ethanol exclusively produced in the U.S. - an effort backed by "Big Sugar" and the Koch brothers.

The billionaire Kochs are key backers of the Tea Party movement and its pro-free-market, small-government ideology. But Jennings says preserving the free market may not be what is behind the Kochs' move into the ethanol business.

"I think it's disturbing that Koch is lobbying to kill the ethanol tax incentive at the same time the company owns shares in ethanol. Koch will continue to fight U.S. ethanol, I'm sure, even though they have ownership interest. I'm not surprised to hear they are involved in Brazilian sugar ethanol production, either."

The Kochs' pot of ethanol gold may not be at the end of some Iowa cornfield rainbow, but in Paranagua, Brazil, where one of their companies, Koch Fertilizer, has built a 57,000-cubic-ton warehouse to provide fuel for the booming Brazilian sugar-cane ethanol industry. Koch Fertilizer is produced offshore, in Trinidad and Tobago, and Jennings doesn't like it.

"I'm a little bit jaded when it comes to a company like Koch. Unfortunately, this type of thing has been happening for years, when it comes to farmers and ranchers trying to get a fair price for their product."

Republican Florida Gov. Rick Scott wants to expand South Florida ports to accommodate sugar ethanol imports. Florida sugar producers gave Scott $100,000 in his successful bid for governor.

Part 2 in the series Tuesday will feature an examination of the sugar industry's campaign money trail.

This investigative report was produced with cooperation from The American Independent News Network: tainews.org

Also see: www.associatedcontent.com.


get more stories like this via email

Some federal incentives to bring internet access to Indian Country neglected to require tribal participation, according to a new report.

The Federal Communications Commission's 2020 Rural Digital Opportunity Fund awarded more than $9 billion to cable and satellite operators, phone companies and others to deploy broadband in areas lacking it. The report from the Institute for Local Self Reliance showed the program included no requirement for tribal consent or engagement before companies placed bids.

Jessica Auer, tribal broadband policy analyst at the Institute for Local Self Reliance and the report's author, said it left some tribes, especially those with their own broadband projects, in what she called a "bureaucratic boondoggle," leading to "tension and confusion."

"They're required to spend resources and staff time trying to contest these awards, confronted by outside providers who feel that they have a mandate and a right to build on sovereign tribal lands," Auer explained.

Auer argued not including tribal nations at the table is, in many cases, considered a violation of tribal sovereignty. According to a 2022 study, households in tribal areas are about 24% less likely to have access to broadband internet than others.

In some cases, tribes are able to build the projects themselves. The Rosebud Sioux Tribe was awarded a $40-million grant to connect more than 1,500 tribal households with fiber internet access and an LTE wireless network.

Auer noted it is preferable to a company building infrastructure in unfamiliar terrain, which can be detrimental.

"I just can't think that it necessarily makes them the most long-term effective and sustainable answer, when they have so little knowledge and familiarity with local realities," Auer added.


get more stories like this via email

Iowa has enlisted the help of businesses across the state to take on human trafficking.

Tomorrow marks World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, and the state is calling on residents and employees alike to be aware of the signs that someone could be a victim.

The widepread use of social media has made it harder to corral sex traffickers in recent years.

Secretary of State Paul Pate launched the Iowa Business Against Trafficking Initiative in 2022, to ask 300,000 employees of 800 Iowa businesses to be the eyes and ears if they sense a person is being trafficked.

"Well, we're not asking anyone to be a hero here," said Pate. "What we're asking them to be is good neighbors. It's like a neighborhood watch program. You watch for suspicious or unusual behavior, activities that are going on, and let law enforcement know - because they can't be everywhere all the time."

Pate has enlisted the help of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security this year - which has started an initiative to remind people that if they suspect they spot human trafficking, they should say something to local authorities.

Tom Ruck is the senior engagement manager for the Department of Homeland Security's Blue Campaign against human trafficking, and has been in Iowa to boost Pate's efforts at confronting it.

He said it's important not to try to physically step in and rescue a person who appears to be a trafficking victim, even if that's the natural inclination of someone who wants to help.

"But we could put you at harm for doing something," said Ruck. "The trafficker may try to hurt you - and definitely the person being trafficked could be put in harm's way, down the road. So we say, 'Call your local authorities.'"

He added that traffickers often prey on young people who report feeling isolated, depressed, or estranged from their parents - and the criminals work those angles to make contact with prospective victims.




get more stories like this via email

A new survey shows there's been an increase in the number of police officers on the streets since the COVID-19 exodus, but some Americans are still behaving badly when they think no one's looking.

A survey by the Police Executive Research Forum shows more sworn officers were hired in 2023 than any of the previous four years, and fewer officers overall resigned or retired.

Lance LoRusso, founder of the Blue Line Lawyer Institute, said bad behavior is still evident in communities where not enough officers were available to patrol parks or other public spaces.

"There is a segment of the population that if they don't believe there's consequences for their actions, they will not act in a lawful manner," LoRusso asserted. "They don't, because there's nobody making sure that they're taking care of their obligations and they're treating each other in a civil manner."

More than 200 law enforcement agencies responded to the survey. It showed that while small and medium departments had more sworn officers than they did in January 2020, large departments are still more than 5% below earlier staffing levels.

In March, New Mexico's Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department announced a crackdown on drivers traveling at excessive speeds, which LoRusso said became a problem during the pandemic coast to coast and has not subsided in some areas. He says citizens should not hesitate to report such incidents.

"People racing cars is dangerous. It's completely anti-social, unlawful, dangerous behavior that shows a complete disrespect for the other people in your community. And yet, it's tolerated," he said.

Car break-ins also increased during the pandemic, which LoRusso said might feel like an isolated incident, but is usually indicative of a larger problem.