Yes, the operative word in my earlier post was "justified." I've seen many governments claim (as the DR is doing) to be switching to biofuels as a way to address global climate change, but few studies that demonstrate conclusively that most of these fuels actually would reduce CO2 emissions, have a lesser overall "carbon footprint" or in some cases, are even "carbon neutral."
I'm not sure that producing ethanol from sugarcane makes environmental and economic sense for the DR, but the authorities seem to think so (or so they say). They like to point to the Brazilian example, but frankly the Brazilian example is probably unique for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that they've been working on ethanol since the 1930s.
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