Simpson Column: Don’t be a sheep when it come to ethanol

Earth day is less than a week away. It will be a time when people get together to share in the hope that we can one day have a clean environment, free of pollution and contaminates.

A time for people to share in the hope that one day we can rid ourselves of the numerous evils associated with such things as oil and nuclear energy. It is also, unfortunately, a day when people are exposed to more junk science and false information about energy alternatives than any other day of the year.

One of the greatest lies that never seems to be given an honest and comprehensive review is ethanol as an alternative fuel source.

During his recent trip to Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, President Obama said "Some of the press may be wondering why we are announcing offshore drilling in a hangar at Andrews Air Force Base. Well, if there's any doubt about the leadership that our military is showing, you just need to look at this F-18 fighter and the light-armored vehicle behind me. The Army and Marine Corps have been testing this vehicle on a mixture of biofuels. "

The offshore drilling Obama mentioned during this event was referring to an area off Virginia's coast. According to a USA Today article titled "Obama to allow off-shore drilling in new ar-eas" from March 31: "The first tract of land eligible for drilling—just off Virginia's coast—holds an estimated 130 million barrels of crude, according to the U.S. Geological Survey."

Obama went on to say "… the Navy, led by Secretary Mabus, who's here today, has set a goal of using 50-percent alternative fuels in all planes, vehicles, and ships in the next 10 years." This is quite ambitious, and quite disturbing.

The problem is, people have been so quick to adopt anything that sounds "green" that they haven't assessed—comprehensively—the impact of this "alternative" fuel source.

The Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy states that it is looking for "opportunities to support ethanol projects." And there was "legislation passed [in 2006] funded at $1 million that establishes a Biofuels Production Grant and provides incentives for locating a plant in Vir-ginia."

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality promotes ethanol as "renewable, domestically produced and available in Virginia," providing fueling locations throughout the state of Virginia.

So, why am I opposed to ethanol? Because it isn't a green alternative and it will cause more harm than good.

According to an American Institute of Biological Sciences article "More Maize May Boost Green-house Gas Emissions." In ScienceDaily on March 12, "In response to the increased demand for maize, farmers convert additional land to crops, and this conversion can boost carbon dioxide emis-sions." Also according to the article "the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act man-dates a steep increase in US production of biofuels over the next dozen years."

The effects of the misconceptions about biofuels are already having a profound negative impact on busi-nesses, jobs and the environment. According to an Associated Press story by Betsy Blaney on March 22 titled "As farmers move from cotton to corn, jobs are lost," cotton production has been cut in half. What's worse is that our infrastructure—the ability to produce our own fabric and clothing—is being moved offshore. As we reduce our capacity to produce metals, textiles, and other important goods we place ourselves in greater strategic jeopardy by a reliance on other nations for our needs.

According to a report titled "Ethanol raises cost of nutrition programs" by Associated Press writer Mary Claire Jalonick published April 10, 2009 on InsideNova.com, "The Congressional Budget Office indicated that "Higher use of the corn-based fuel additive accounted for about 10 percent to 15 percent of the rise in food prices between April 2007 and April 2008."

Jerry Taylor and Peter Van Doren of The Cato Institute produced a short but very informative piece about many of the other "untruths" being spread about ethanol. It turns out that ethanol is not going to help us very much with gasoline energy independence, it is not going to reduce gasoline prices, less than 30 percent of ethanol's energy is truly "renewable" and it will not reduce greenhouse gasses.

I hope everyone has an enjoyable and productive Earth Day … and I hope that people stop acting like sheep and start asking critical questions when "authorities" tell us stories that seem on the surface too good to be true.

source: insidenova