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May 7 – ALTERNATIVE PERSPECTIVE ON RENEWABLE FUELS: If you are a regular reader
of these pages you have heard me mention Robert Zubrin before. Zubrin is the author of "Energy Victory: Winning the War on Terror by Breaking Free of Oil." In today’s Chicago Tribune he joins
forces with Gal Luft, executive director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, to author a commentary on the food and fuel issue. Unlike many stories you are reading this one is very pro-ethanol and
very insightful.
“According to Merrill Lynch analysts, without biofuel programs, the price of oil
would be about $13 a barrel higher than it now is. A $13 savings for each barrel could save the U.S. $65 billion in foreign oil payments. So, rather than shut down biofuel programs, we need to radically augment
them, to the point where we can take down the oil cartel. Congress can make this happen by passing a law requiring that all new cars sold in the U.S. be flex-fuel vehicles that can run on any combination of
gasoline, ethanol or methanol,” Zubrin and Luft say in their column.
The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-oped0506fuelmay06,0,481881.st ory
WALL STREET CONTINUES TO POUND ETHANOL: On the other side of the coin, The Wall
Street Journal wrote yet another blistering editorial regarding ethanol. Follow the link below to read the editorial or scroll past it to read my response submitted to their blog.
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB121011613215972205-lMyQjAxMDI4MTAwN
zEwMTc2Wj.html
Your singleness of purpose regarding ethanol bashing is mind boggling. It is one
thing to use dubious sources, but in this case some of the information you espouse as being "factual" is just plain wrong.
The industry average water use for making a gallon of ethanol today is 3.6 gallons,
not 1700...Mr. Pimentel includes rain in his calculation on water use. Multiple scientific studies show your select "experts" to be a voice in the wilderness and less than credible. Ethanol production
efficiency is improving, corn yields are growing rapidly and will continue a steep climb in the years ahead with biotech advances. The increased production you noted last year happens to be identical to the amount
of corn needed to service the ethanol industry which is not a coincidence.
Oil imports are fueling a bloated U.S. trade deficit. We lose 27,000 jobs for every
billion dollars of additional oil imports. Serious domestic and global economic dislocation and higher food prices are all being driven by outrageous oil prices.
Corn based ethanol is just the beginning of a biofuels revolution that is making
the Saudis sweat. This year, with OPEC-rigged oil prices exceeding $120 a barrel, the U.S. will pay more than $800 billion for its oil supply and the world as a whole will pay $3.2 trillion. This is a drain on
our economy and the world that is unconscionable.
I recommend you check your sources, open your mind, or at least reveal your real
agenda.
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