Friday, November 26, 2010

Al Gore and ethanol--So, now it's not a good thing, now that I'm out of politics?

rev. 11-26-2010

But we already knew that.

Al Gore, November 22, 2010:

"One of the reasons I made that mistake [over ethanol] is that I paid particular attention to the farmers in my home state of Tennessee, and I had a certain fondness for the farmers in the state of Iowa because I was about to run for president" in 2000.

This article, via MSN and Reuters, pretty well sums it up.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40317079/ns/us_news-environment/#
Our former Vice President comes clean, admits he supported ethanol solely to get votes, and that it was based upon no science.
  • The direct subsidies totaled 7.7 Billions dollars.
  • Food prices have been placed in turmoil. Probably the worst public policy to come out of Washington in a decade. Independent United Nations expert stated US ethanol policy was a "crime against humanity." http://www.livescience.com/environment/071027-ap-biofuel-crime.html
  • That there is no net benefit to the environment; the process of raising corn, distilling, and bring the ethanol to market is not zero impact.
I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

______________________________

And then there is the other bio-fuel, biodiesel. The story is very similar; impacts on highway funding, food prices, and in this case the soap industry too...

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/85/i22/8522news3.html

To my knowledge, the bio diesel subsidies expired without renewal--they lacked the sort of lobby Archer/Danials/Midland could conjure--and so many small producers have folded. The animal feed guys are thrilled, since these fats had always been recycle into feed products; that fats were wasted was always pure political myth.

_____________________________

So, now what of global warming? I believe he is more sincere in his beliefs there; I'm not sure his grasp of the science is any better. He has certainly thrown his credentials and his control of the moral high ground in doubt.

2 comments:

  1. Also, his extensive investments in renewable energy are in areas beyond ethanol that will benefit by a switch away from ethanol.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You don't say.... But I can't say I'm surprised.

    I'm not an Al Gore hater, I'm simply not that political. But I'm certainly no longer interested in listening to his views on the environment.

    ReplyDelete