Encourage Prez’s New Interest in Biofuels

Imagine that Pres. Bush never invaded Iraq or condoned torture or advocated spying on U.S. citizens or turned over the economy to oil companies. I know it’s a lot to ask, but he’s been busy the past five years and there’s so much to forgive and/or forget.

I thought about this Friday as I read a New York Times article about the President visiting a Novozymes cellulosic ethanol laboratory in North Carolina. He seemed, well, engaged and intrigued by the lab’s proceedings. NYT reporter Edmund L. Andrews noticed this too.

"...the president appeared to show genuine enthusiasm for cellulosic ethanol, frequently interrupting Novozymes executives to boil down technical explanations into more simple sound bites. At one point, Mr. Bush jumped in to explain that corn-based ethanol could not provide enough alternative fuel because ethanol demand was already outstripping supply."

And then there was this:

" ‘Doesn’t it make sense to be able to say to our farmers, grow what you can grow so we become less dependent on oil?.... I like the idea of a president being able to say, wow, the crop report is in, we’re growing more corn than ever before, which means we’re importing less oil from overseas.’ "

Mr. Bush has called for reducing gasoline use by 20 percent over the next decade. He has proposed a mandatory, fivefold increase in the production of gasoline alternatives to 35 billion gallons a year by 2017. Corn-based ethanol is the primary substitute for gasoline, and output is around seven billion gallons a year. Industry experts estimate that corn-based ethanol can supply only half the proposed alternative fuel. Other sources include coal, biodiesel, and hydrogen fuel cells.

These trips make Bush look more presidential than he has in years. I suggest that he keep it up and pay more attention to alternative fuels and less to foreign entanglements. Maybe he will forget about invading Iran and lose interest in Iraq so we can leave quietly and let the Shiites and Sunnis sort it out.

It’s not my place, but I offer an open invitation for the President to visit us in WYO where we have two ethanol plants and a new experimental one that will make ethanol from wood chips. He can even drop in on Montana’s Gov who’s got this great idea to convert western coal to gas. Come on out, spend a month or two, take a load off – and give the world a break.