Early in the new millennium, oil prices began to rise and natural gas prices shot up. Doomsayers lacking an understanding of history and economics popped up, as they always do, to proclaim the end of cheap oil was nigh. “Peak oil” pundits ruled the airwaves and editorial pages.

The United States had recently suffered the horrific terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and national security analysts decried the nation’s increasing dependence on foreign oil, especially from the often-hostile regions of the world from which the terrorists had sprung. Meanwhile, environmentalists made great headway among politicians with the argument that emissions from burning fossil fuels were causing dangerous global warming.

This confluence of events made ethanol seem a solution to America’s energy problems, worthy of government subsidies and mandates. Ethanol, a renewable fuel, would reduce greenhouse gas emissions, enhance the nation’s energy independence, and soften the blow from the predicted extinction of oil. The problem is ethanol can’t do any of that.

Rising oil and gas prices sparked new exploration and a revolution in technology that greatly enhanced hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling. These factors produced an oil glut.

The United States now imports less oil than it has since the 1970s. In 2013 alone, our proven reserves of natural gas rose 9.7 percent to a record 354 trillion cubic feet, and proven oil reserves increased 9.3%.

Ethanol was never a viable substitute for the quality or quantity of gasoline American drivers need. Researchers at the University of Minnesota found if every acre of corn was used to produce ethanol, it would supply the equivalent of less than 12 percent of current gasoline use.

Ethanol production and use actually produce more greenhouse gas emissions than gasoline. Because ethanol has less energy content than gasoline, cars and trucks have to use more fuel and thus produce more emissions.

While the politically induced expansion of ethanol neither produced energy independence nor reduced greenhouse gas emissions, it did have an unintended, harmful impact on the world’s food supply.

As corn prices skyrocketed, farmers switched to corn production from other core crops. U.S. consumers substituted less expensive rice and wheat for corn, increasing prices for wheat and rice. Wheat and rice are staple foods across many regions in Africa and Asia, so the switch by U.S. consumers increased prices for staple foods all over the world.