Is Ethanol worth it?

There appears to be considerable information, both outdated and not, floating around about Ethanol. The WSJ on 28 Mar 2006, pointed out that even the subsidized profits (to midwest farmers and agribusiness giants like ADM) that Congress has created for Ethanol still isn't enough to get production high enough to replace MTBE in time, which is being phased out rapidly due to environmental concerns (and therefore lawsuit concerns)... and as if that weren't enough, Ethanol imports are subject to a 2.5% tariff and a second duty of 54 cents a gallon. So much for free trade.

And all of this ignores the possibility (which is constantly changing since efficiencies are going up) that it takes more energy to create Ethanol than it produces.

Complain to your Republican congressman if you don't like the Ethanol situation we're in... they're the ones that put us here (said as someone who does not typically identify with Democratic side of many things [not that I identify with many Republican side of things any more]).

Update: Discussion about Ethanol on /.