Ethanol: More Polution and Lower Gas Mileage?

Ethanol has always sounded sort of sketchy to me. It's not truly a sustainable source of energy, because it takes a lot of room to grow and may actually use more fossil fuels to produce than blending it with gasoline saves. An article in Business Week adds fuel to the fire, saying that using ethanol in gasoline blends causes more smog (due to higher volatility) and reduces fuel economy by up to 40%. Add that to the extra fuel being burned by sneaky corporations who are using ethanol-equipped Suburbans and other vehicles that consume a lot of fuel in order to get around CAFE regulations, and it becomes clear that ethanol is definitely not going to do America any favors. I've thought of ethanol as a decent short-term solution to our fuel dependency problems, but the cost suddenly seems to dramatically outweigh the benefits. [Source: Business Week, and thank you to starlightmica for the tip on this important article]