This Just in! Food More Important Than Fuel!

[Mule]

Now that it's finally sinking in that the logic is absent from an equation where more than a dollar's worth of food is used to produce less than a dollar's worth of fuel, eco-lefties are ducking like Floyd Mayweather on speed. One who can't duck, (a. because there's no getting away from it and b. because he moves like the mummy) is none other than Captain Planet himself, Al Gore, who cast the tie breaking vote on the ethanol bill. I repeat one of my favorite quotes by a "down off the mountain" redneck, who's probably way smarter than any of these idiots, "smart is superficial, but stupid runs deep!"

[sketchers356]

Down with Gore!

[fintstone]

Since Gore personally uses more energy and creates more pollution than some small towns...while making a fortune spreading misinformation about the climate and weather...I am not so sure.

[Mule]

I know I wish I'd thought of the "carbon credits" scam. The ultimate business! Take money from left wing buffoons like Streisand & Baldwin, in exchange for a "certificate," then laugh all the way to the bank. You couldn't take the smile off my face with a Louisville slugger!

[competentone]

Originally Posted by Mule

One who can't duck, (a. because there's no getting away from it and b. because he moves like the mummy) is none other than Captain Planet himself, Al Gore, who cast the tie breaking vote on the ethanol bill.

[Mule]

The cartoon Al is not a stiff as the real Al.

[sketchers356]

Originally Posted by fintstone

Since Gore personally uses more energy and creates more pollution than some small towns...while making a fortune spreading misinformation about the climate and weather...I am not so sure.

Why I hate the man more than any other 'celebrity'.

[m21sniper]

Originally Posted by Wayne at Pelican Parts

Gore means well

-Wayne

I question that. I believe Gore seeks fame, and advancing the far left's Green agenda is really the only way left for him to maintain it.

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by sketchers356

Why I hate the man more than any other 'celebrity'.

It could be worse, you could hate everything the wacko says and does AND be related to him ......

[Drdogface]

Originally Posted by Wayne at Pelican Parts

Gore means well, but he needs some pragmatism mixed in there.

-Wayne

Gore means to do well for himself only.

[Hugh R]

Originally Posted by Mule

I know I wish I'd thought of the "carbon credits" scam. The ultimate business! Take money from left wing buffoons like Streisand & Baldwin, in exchange for a "certificate," then laugh all the way to the bank. You couldn't take the smile off my face with a Louisville slugger!

Adopt-A-Star the best scam that I've seen in years. Name a star after you're loved one and we'll accept your money. Like they have the exclusive right to name a star. Even if they did what a great gig.

[widgeon13]

Al WHO????

[speeder]

I can only hope and pray that the crisis over world food prices stops the ethanol juggernaut dead in its tracks. It's a classic case of govt. coming up with a solution that was worse than the problem.

Anyone want to take bets on how long before any major public figure dares to blame anything on over-population in the world? Don't hold your breath.

[The Gaijin]

"The biofuels debacle is global warm-mongering in a nutshell: The first victims of poseur environmentalism will always be developing countries. In order for you to put biofuel in your Prius and feel good about yourself for no reason, real actual people in faraway places have to starve to death..."

http://www2.nysun.com/article/75415?page_no=1

[pwd72s]

When politicians stake their careers on a bad idea, they stick to their guns. Read and weep:

In face of criticism, Oregon leaders stand by push for ethanol
As food prices rise, ethanol's consumption of corn comes in for scrutiny Monday, April 28, 2008GAIL KINSEY HILL The Oregonian Staff
A year ago, Oregon was high on ethanol.

Made from corn and mixed with gasoline, the alternative fuel promised a smooth ride to cleaner air, more jobs and a homegrown product.

This year, in a fearsome recoil, ethanol has been blamed for a host of ills, mainly that its production -- in growing and transporting corn, and in the fuel burned to distill it -- uses more energy than it saves. The most recent, and perhaps most dramatic criticism: The headlong rush into ethanol production has jacked up corn prices and deepened the global food crisis.



Oregon's political leaders, staunch advocates of ethanol and architects of tax breaks for its manufacture, are watching the furor nervously. High-profile environmental and international relief organizations are urging Congress to rescind federal targets for biofuels production, and the pleas are filtering into champion states such as Oregon.

A handful of states back U.S. policies with incentives of their own, and Oregon's is one of the most ambitious. Gov. Ted Kulongoski has staked his political reputation in large part on renewable energy, including the development of the ethanol and biodiesel industries. He and the Legislature have offered millions of taxpayer dollars to jump-start plans they claim will lead to a cleaner state and a stronger economy.

Underlying the tax breaks is a requirement that, by year's end, all gasoline pumped in the state contain 10 percent ethanol.

Kulongoski has said he will have another round of clean-energy proposals ready for the next Legislature, which meets in 2009. At this point, he's committed to strengthening, not weakening, his support of alternative fuels, his advisers say.

"Obviously, we're keeping on top of this," said sustainability adviser David Van't Hof of the fuel-versus-food debate. "But we think we're on the right trajectory."

The endgame, said Van't Hof, is to shift away from corn when the next generation of feedstocks becomes available. So-called cellulosic technologies will break down wood chips, wheat straw or other waste materials and distill them into fuel.

Supplies would come from Oregon, another boost to the economy, Van't Hof said. "The governor has never looked at corn-based ethanol as the goal."

Still, these new technologies aren't yet capable of taking ethanol production to the next level. Commercial scale operations could be a decade or more away.


More refineries, less food?


For now, corn's the anointed crop. It comes primarily from the Midwest, which can belt out big yields.


Until last year, Oregon had no refineries: oil, ethanol or otherwise. The state incentives brought in Pacific Ethanol, which built a plant in Boardman with a relatively modest capacity of 40 million gallons of ethanol annually. Rail cars carry the corn in from the east; barges take the distilled fuel down the Columbia River to distributors in Portland.

Later this year, Cascade Grain Products will open an ethanol refinery in Clatskanie capable of producing 110 million gallons annually. Proposals for more plants are in the works.

Ethanol plants are cropping up across the country, and most are using Midwest corn. That's precisely why critics are angry. Farmers are taking land otherwise used to grow food and earmarking the acreage for fuel crops, they say, squeezing supplies and pushing up food prices. Developing countries are feeling the sharpest hit.

Biofuels "put at risk access to food by the poorest sectors," concludes a recent paper from the United Nation's Food and Agricultural Organization.

Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute and an early critic of biofuels policies, said Congress needs to admit its mistakes and immediately rescind the requirement that biofuels production increase from 9 billion gallons this year to 36 billion by 2022.

"Short-term, we can reduce the amount of grain going into fuel for cars," Brown said. "That's almost essential if you want to restore some semblance of stability."

In the first show of state-level unrest, Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Friday asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to cut the federal requirement in half. He blamed the fuel standard for driving up prices and hurting the economies of Texas and developing countries.

Still, the tie between U.S. fuel policies and rising food prices isn't clear-cut.

Most of the corn U.S. farmers grow isn't used for food. It's used for livestock feed. Planting and yields are up, and corn exports are expected to rise by 15 percent this season, according to forecasts from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.


Oil prices are the big reason for the rise in grain prices, said Brent Searle, an economist with the Oregon Department of Agriculture. A drought in Australia, the dollar's decline and growing demand in Latin America and Asia also are driving up prices.

The effects of ethanol?

"Marginal," Searle said. "I'm astonished by the piling on and the finger pointing."

Tom Koehler, Pacific Ethanol's vice president, said he's surprised by the vitriol, which seems to have overwhelmed ethanol's positive attributes. The world's appetite for gasoline continues to grow, he said, and "moving forward we're going to need every molecule of fuel we can find."

Even the most ardent biofuels boosters admit that the pressures on corn can't continue indefinitely. Next-generation feedstocks are the answer, they say.

Critics are unappeased by what they say is an iffy prospect. Ken Cook, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Working Group, questions whether a viable corn replacement will ever come.

"Now and into the foreseeable future, it seems to be all corn all the time," he said. "To ramp up the industry at this scale before we know where we're headed is a big mistake."

Oregon officials say they have helped create the ethanol markets that make further investment possible. They say they have done so carefully -- excluding corn growers from tax breaks, for example -- and expect use of in-state materials to happen quickly.

"We're trying to be strategic," said sustainability adviser Van't Hof. "If cellulosic doesn't come soon enough, then we'll reassess."

Gail Kinsey Hill: 503-221-8590, gailhill@news.oregonian.com For environment news, go to blog.oregonlive.com/pdxgreen

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by speeder

I can only hope and pray that the crisis over world food prices stops the ethanol juggernaut dead in its tracks. It's a classic case of govt. coming up with a solution that was worse than the problem.

Anyone want to take bets on how long before any major public figure dares to blame anything on over-population in the world? Don't hold your breath.

you mean a political figure?

There have been numerous books about the "Population Bomb"(Actually was the title of one of them as I recall). Lots of people talk about overpopulation, they just don't do anything about it.

Be better to make booze for drinkin' rather than for drivin'. I personally want my plug in hybrid before we go all Mad Max and start burning our high fructose corn syrup instead of putting it in Coca Cola

[Seahawk]

In the 15 years I have owned my farm, we never really made money on corn...corn was a rotation crop to keep the soil ready for our real cash crop, soybeans.

Winter wheat pretty much the same.

All that has changed in the last year...I'll keep the same rotation, but farmers who have to make money to survive may not. Just wait until the second order effects of changing crop rotations from soybeans to essentially livestock corn takes hold on the price of food,

[pwd72s]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

In the 15 years I have owned my farm, we never really made money on corn...corn was a rotation crop to keep the soil ready for our real cash crop, soybeans.

Winter wheat pretty much the same.

All that has changed in the last year...I'll keep the same rotation, but farmers who have to make money to survive may not. Just wait until the second order effects of changing crop rotations from soybeans to essentially livestock corn takes hold on the price of food,

Send a few Bushels to the Oregon legislature,okay?