Some [U.S.] lawmakers are pushing corn ethanol from Iowa, either because they hail from that area and are looking to give more welfare to farmers by wasting money on an alternative fuel that will never reach the scale of what is needed, or because they plan to run in the Iowa caucuses. Others are pushing huge subsidies to turn coal into gasoline, because they come from coal states. Those who don't come from Michigan want higher mileage standards imposed on Detroit, while those who come from Michigan prefer to continue their assisted suicide of the U.S. auto industry by blocking tougher mileage requirements....We have a multigenerational problem that requires a systemic, multigenerational response, and that can happen only if we get our energy prices right. Only that will guarantee green innovation and commercialization at scale. Anything less is wasted breath and wasted money -- and any candidate who says otherwise is only contributing to global warming by adding hot air.
-- From "Our Green Bubble," by columnist Thomas L. Friedman, in
the June 3, 2007 The New York Times
Passed to me by local Ray Wallace, who makes it his mission to uncover the effects of producing ethanol.
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