I’ve done a 180 on corn ethanol. I’m agin it.
June 23rd, 2008 at 11:34pm Chuck Sweeny
I’m watching Glenn Beck, who has Ben Stein for a guest. Stein made a good point: We are devastating previously natural land in an effort to grow more corn for ethanol, but we won’t drill for oil on 2,500 acres in Alaska, or off shore. Strange.
Stein also noted that we’re perfectly willing to starve the Third World in order to make auto fuel out of a crop that’s better suited to feed people and animals.
Now, I have a confession to make. Two years ago I was gung-ho in favor of ethanol. I believed it would put the U.S. on the path to energy independence.
One year ago I was saying, hmmmmmm., is this really the right thing to do? And why are all these rich guys forming consortiums to build ethanol plants? And I figured naturally that the gub’ment was giving away free money for ethanol production. Yup.
Now, I’ve completed a 180 on ethanol made from corn with a massive federal subsidy. I’m agin it. It is ruining the environment and it is immoral. As Stein said, when food prices go up, Americans grumble and pay more. In Haiti, people starve.
Entry Filed under: ethanol
12 Comments Add your own
1. cliff steele | June 24th, 2008 at 1:07 am
NOT TO MANY RESEARCHED THE ETHANOL SCAM AS I DID AS WE WERE ABOUT TO LOSE NOT ONLY OUR HOME,HEALTH (DUE TO ACIDIC AIR DISCHARGE) AND OUR WATER DUE TO NITRITES IN OUR WELLS.
IT TOOK YOU 2 YEARS TO COME AROUND…IT TOOK US 4 WEEKS TO SELL AND GET OUT OF DODGE &TO LOSE $30K + ON OUR HOME + THOUSANDS TO MOVE OUT OF ILL. WE JUST TIRED OF FIGHTING HOG SLAUGHTER PLANTS,DUMPS.GOVERMENT HUD PROJECTS BY THE 1/2 DOZEN & UNDERHANDED,DISHONEST & GREEDY LOCAL GOVERMENT. WERE SO HAPPY WE LEFT I JUST CAN’T EXCLAIM THE JOYS!
CLIFF & SANDY STEELE..SOMERSET KY
2. unmanager | June 24th, 2008 at 3:41 am
Say,a little off topic, but did you not have an entry last night about bottled water at City Hall?
3. Craig Knauss | June 24th, 2008 at 8:40 am
Chuck,
Don’t forget to check other sources as well. Just because Beck and Stein are “right” doesn’t mean they are correct. On a good day, their accuracy approaches 50%. They’ve said things in the past that turned out to be pure crap. The jury is still out on ethanol. And there are many different ways to make it, not just using field corn. Gasoline has been produced for about 100 years. Ethanol still has some growing to do.
4. Robert Satan | June 24th, 2008 at 9:56 am
Chuckles, I\’m just not used to you being wishy washy. I mean you are a guy who supported Bush for eight years and now supports Obama. You clearly have strongly entrenched political values that you stand for. It is unlike you to reverse course.
5. hokumboy | June 24th, 2008 at 10:03 am
Today’s Trib has an interesting article on Brazil’s Biofuel production and it’s true costs.
http://tinyurl.com/4l5vp6
6. Javan | June 24th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Yeah, and, can I point out there was no shortage of this kind of information available when you first took your position on this. Perhaps a course in research methods, might be in order?
Oh, and BTW Chuckles, I don’t think even the ethanol industry argued that there was enough corn in the universe to satisfy our piggish needs for oil. The holy grail is cellulosic ethanol - switch grass and the like.
7. Chuck Sweeny | June 24th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
People who don’t change course when confronted with new realities are prone to go ovrer the falls.
8. Javan | June 25th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
As do people who adopt positions on issues without fully comprehending all the ramifications. Exhibit A: George W. Bush.
9. Leatherneck | June 25th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
You’re right Chuck. I think a lot of us were sold a bill of goods on ethanol and now we are discovering that it is NOT cost efficient and we’d have to grow corn from coast to coast and it would still would not make a dent in our energy needs.
10. Chuck Sweeny | June 25th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
Javan, I did extensive research on corn-based ethanol back when it was being touted two to three years ago around here. I was suspicious of the anti-ethanol information because the “research” and economic forecasting was being paid for totally by the OIL companies.
I thought this could help our area farmers and help get us away from oil, especially foreign oil from unreliable countries.
Foreign oil that we buy is subsidized by the U.S. taxpayers, who are required to fund the most powerful military force in the history of the world in order to keep the sea lanes open without any challengers to our hegemony.
.
largest armed forces in the lionThe oil companies
11. deuceracing | June 26th, 2008 at 10:22 am
When will industrial hemp be allowed as a crop in the US like it is in other countries? The oil could be used for Biodiesel MUCH cheaper than soy oil, and the fiber can be used for cellulosic ethanol (among other things). The rabid anti-drug folks needn\’t worry, smoking it will get you as high as smoking rope. Just one more casualty of the war on drugs…
12. Javan | June 27th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
Well, did you ask a simple common sense question? … i.e. if corn is used for ethanol, won’t there be less for food?
Leave a Comment
Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>
Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed