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Gagging on gas prices? Amber
waves of grain hold promise of cheaper fuel
By Kevin Nielsen
September 30, 2005 | Gas prices can't
be that high. The gulf coast refineries shut down for
a week tops and that forces gas up a dollar? C'mon!
That's not economics. That's theft.
The fall of 2000 is to blame, not Katrina, not Iraq,
not the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
(OPEC). It's all on the election of 2000. Bush beat
Gore only after it was Bush v. Gore in the Supreme Court.
Big oil got into the White House promising to keep gas
prices low. In those days $1.40 was excessive. Double
that qualifies as cheap now.
Is it karma that the new energy bill was just signed
this summer before gas jumped or is that just idle coincidence?
There isn't too much we can do now, though. Oil is
running out and things can't be looking up unless you
look to the prairie. That's right: not the oil fields,
not the desert, the prairies.
Ethanol is a compound made through barley or rye or
wheat or just about any grain. It isn't that fussy.
The U.S. heartland has billions of acres of farmland,
lots of which is being subsidized by the government
to not have anything grown on it to help keep crop prices
higher. Why not use this land to grow grains to be made
into ethanol so the production of gas can be subsidized
with ethanol to drive prices down? It's more renewable
than oil. Every season there would be a good chance
for just as many barrels or silos of grain and thus
gallons and gallons of ethanol.
Not only would this ethanol help lower gas prices
the revenue off the crops would help support the thousands
of farmers who have trouble keeping themselves in the
black. American farmers could benefit greatly from fuel
revenues. It would be in a direct marketplace which
would help everyone out. We wouldn't be as dependent
on the Middle East, and the agricultural basis of the
nation would be stronger.
Ethanol also burns cleaner than straight gasoline.
Ethanol was one of two oxygenates approved by the Clean
Air Act of 1990 to be added in cities with high carbon
monoxide emissions. The other, methyl tertiary-butyl
ether (MTBE) was found to contaminate ground water supplies.
So ethanol wouldn't just help out with gas prices and
farmer's paychecks, it would also lead to cleaner air
in the metropolises of today.
The other option we have is to sit around and let
gas be shoveled off on us at exorbitantly high prices.
We could never leave daylight savings time if a couple
extra weeks would save so much energy. Why not do it
year round? Like elementary school. The kids learn more,
we could save more gas so the kids had something to
learn about in history class besides how the oil industry
was really the power behind the government.
It should only take a couple more months before the
gas prices get ridiculous or we just get acclimated
to paying through the nose for it. Meanwhile there are
plenty of opportunities to get gas cheaper and better
for everyone.
NW
MS |
