Burn Veggies, Not Dinosaurs

Little did I know that 12 million gallons of ethanol are being brewed annually right here in Wyoming. This is good news to me and my fellow motorists who power their vehicles with ethanol (E85).

Wyoming Ethanol in Torrington recently doubled its annual production. The facility is buying much of Wyoming's corn, according to general manager Dan Schwartzkopf.

The Big Horn Basin Ethanol Plant just bought land near Greybull and plan to begin building by the end of the year. It plans to produce up to 24 million gallons annually, so the company will need lots of corn to distill into E85. Problem is, most Big Horn Basin farmers grow barley or beets and not corn. Billboards in the Basin proudly proclaim that the state's barley is valued by beer manufacturers, mainly Annheuser-Busch.

Big Horn Basin Ethanol President Tom Johnson told the Associated Press: "We certainly want to get at least 25 percent of our corn locally. We're looking to get that established in the Basin. The acres are there and available --it's just a matter of whether the market can drive producers to put corn in those acres."

If I was a farmer, I would glady sacrifice my "King of Beers" barley for corn that can be turned into ethanol that then can power our cars so we don't have to keep buying oil from tinhorn sheiks in the Middle East who use their profits to fund Islamic extremists.

Yes, I know that Wyoming pumps more than 50 million barrels of oil annually. We tax it, and the money flows into the state's coffers, which in turn eventually flows into my bank account as a state employee. But how much of that oil stays in the state? Where does it go to be refined? How much fuel is burned to transport the oil that will be turned into fuel and returned to us at the gas pumps? How much pollution fouls our air?

The solution to our energy problems lies in a multi-faceted approach. Gov. Schweitzer in Montana champions coal conversion -- and WYO has plenty of that. Some are converting vehicles to burn on cooking oil, giving their Chevies a nice bouquet of French fries. Solar and electric and hydrogen technologies are all in varying states of development. Some people are just buying smaller cars that get better mileage than their old vans and trucks.

We need homegrown solutions to our fuel needs. This will curtail the need to wage wars to protect oil supplies in the Middle East. Could be the best anti-war strategy going.