Tue 26 May 2009
The Environmental Third Rail
Posted by theamericangreen under Environmental, media
[5] Comments
Ethanol production
It’s tricky to get a handle on. Many forward looking environmentalist types have decided that it’s a past fad; that essentially Corn Ethanol production was a dead end given it’s land and water use, and the amount of energy that goes into it. People who were very excited about the potential of corn as alternative fuel in the 90’s can’t BELIEVE that people haven’t moved past it in the 2000’s. More nuance: we might not have DQ’ed things like production of Ethanol fuel from Algae, so over-all reaction against it seems like a bad idea.
However, like everything else, there is a huge lobby for Corn Ethanol, (which has some valid points!) and many Midwestern Democrats are completely unwilling to hear about anything that might touch the status quo of cash for that cause. It doesn’t matter if it’s good green policy (and evidence suggests that it is not) — it matters if it is good pork.
It’s a mess, to be sure… but a mess worth sinking the Waxman-Markey environmental bill over?
Yup.
Once again, Congress is the place that great ideas go to die. Look, I realize that the Cap and Trade program is going to be hard on some folks. But this quibbling, this exempting and counter exempting, this hijacking of the debate over things that are not central to the discussion — this is why the tax code is millions of lines long. This is why you need a PHD in stupid to begin to track the reasoning that suggests that a bill designed to get this country on track to start combating global climate change issues is getting nickled and dimed into irrelevance by stupid riders and past gripes.
Peterson and the 26 Democrats on his committee say they will vote against climate change legislation passed by the House Energy and Commerce Committee last week unless it better addresses several concerns raised by farmers, including reversing the EPA decision.
The EPA decision in question is one that requires that the view of the effects of Ethanol production be more holistic, taking into effect land use in how we judge their environmental impact. This has moved some Corn Ethanol below the “20% more efficient then petroleum product” line that is mandated for Bio-fuels, drawing into question how much we should be supporting them anyway.
A Good Word on Ethanol
Ironically, I don’t think I’m as down on Ethanol as many people. Back in the day, when everyone was completely Ethanol Crazy, I don’t think I was as up on it, either. I think that over reacting and turning every piece of corn into gas is stupid, but at the same time — there are still people doing damn good work on making Ethanol more efficient, and it seems like a bad call to throw everything by the wayside because the political winds are changing. The parts of corn that are being used for most Ethanol production aren’t even edible, so a lot of the food or fuel discussion is a false dichotomy in my mind. Whats important is that a full court press continues, and that Ethanol research is allowed to continue and that people are allowed to get as much out of the process as they can.
With all that said though, we need to realize that the EPA is there for a reason. They are their as the Environmental Protection Agency to, you know, protect the Environment. After 8 years of having their ability to do that severally limited by the executive branch, they are back in the saddle again. Sticking your head in the sand and threatening to vote against a far reaching and dramatic climate change bill because you don’t like the EPA pointing out facts is… well, it’s politics in the most diminutive and nasty way that word can be used.
There are other options. Challenge Americans to come up with a better version of Ethanol. I know there are people out there doing exactly that: let’s fund them! Make the production better, make things work, or get out of the way of progress. The thing is tricky because there are redeeming qualities of Ethanol production, but Ethanol has become a political liability that is hamstringing some Democrats in the same way that Oil is a problem for the Republicans and that Coal is a blind spot for Obama. VERY not cool.
There will be plenty of opportunities to make money in a green-collar economy, so you need to start pushing your pork-barrel in ways that help: getting the new technologies in your area, or fighting for your constituents and their right to work is fine — holding everyone else back because Ethanol isn’t where it needs to be is not.
Who wrote this one? TheAmericanGreen - The founding member of the American Green institute, and a New York based producer and writer hoping to make the jump from "freelancer" to "documentary producer". Read more from this author5 Responses to “ The Environmental Third Rail ”
Trackbacks & Pingbacks:
-
[...] already have on our hands is even more of a face-palmer than whatever ethanol debacle is currently busting the balls of alternative energy fanchildren. The infamous cow-slurry-powered train. Takes 30 cows just to [...]
-
[...] so long) means that the joint power of their slightly greener lobby is SO SCARY. And so capable of blocking legislation. Ugh. Share and [...]
-
[...] other week, I posted a few things about Ethanol: how the lobby was holding up the Waxman Bill, etc. As per my usual, it was one part educated [...]
Good post.
As we all (hopefully) know by now, there’s no energy silver bullet. I want to see more numbers here… what’s the absolute maximum money/energy/time we can realistically put into Ethanol production before we start hurting things like food/imports/exports. Does it make sense to do so? I agree that we shouldn’t cut it out entirely. Agreed also that as we follow these avenues of development, we learn things. Valuable things.
Ultimately, we’re converting the energy of the sun into a form we can use to power our [insert item we power here]. Why can’t we get it from the source more efficiently?
We do this conversion when we eat meat because, well, it tastes awesome. When it comes to what kind of energy sits in my proverbial tank, I’m sort of indifferent, s’long as it does its job.
I’m not at all able to comment on the political angle. I prefer numbers.
To hell with the mid-western Democrats from the “Farm States”, this is the future of the planet we are talking about here. I have complete faith in the decisions of the EPA, if they say corn ethanol is bad then that’s good enough for me. We can’t have farmers screwing with the environmental movement in this country, there’s too much money and green jobs at stake, in addition to more damage to the planet. Al Gore says in 40 years we could be be under 50 feet of ocean water if we don’t get our butts in gear and stop global warming, and he won the Nobel for having the guts to say it. So shut these people up and let’s get on with it.