ABSTRACT
Introduction Until now, U.S. ethanol production has remained tied to the location of the industry’s primary resource, corn.1 However, abundant corn is not enough to make a U.S. region an ethanol production center. Industrial scale production was not economically viable until federal and state policies created captive markets that incentivize regional production. Furthermore, the emergence of a unique set of policy conditions conducive to the development of a regional ethanol industry depended on the coming together of technological, operational, and business knowledge of agri-processing corporations and the close connection between farmers, industry, and policy makers. This chapter examines how U.S. policies at both the federal and state level interact to create convergent and divergent forms of regional non-renewable energy production pathways. Using a comparative approach that contrasts how multiple regions respond to federal policies, this chapter contributes toward an understanding of the space-time evolution of policy, technology, and industrial development within the United States.
