Big oil rolls out ads claiming ethanol is worse for the climate

Washington

CLIMATE change has a new evangelist: big oil.

In its bid to roll back government mandates for the use of biofuels, petroleum producers have run out a series of arguments: it harms engines; it raises food costs; it's bad for boats; and the mandate is government interference in the economy.

To persuade President Barack Obama to abandon ethanol, the oil industry and its allies will try a new television advertising pitch, starting over the weekend: ethanol is worse for the climate than gasoline.

"Mandating corn for ethanol doubles greenhouse-gas emissions compared to gasoline over 30 years," according to a new television advertisement sponsored by an odd-bedfello…