For years, national politicians could only benefit by supporting ethanol. Oil companies weren't too worried about it. Farmers loved it, and they lived in swing states. Even as think tankers, scientists and some environmentalists tallied reasonable objections to turning millions of acres of corn into fuel, the Iowa ethanol pander became a rite of passage for presidential candidates. But now, with this summer’s drought killing off America’s most valuable crop, the ethanol industry is finally facing critics with actual political clout — meat producers, auto companies and the average American family. One bad crop of summer corn won’t dismantle the business ethanol producers have built. But it could herald the decline of an industry that’s been propped up for years by political convenience rather than economic or environmental sense.

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