Posted on 11/22/2010 10:14:42 PM PST by TigerLikesRooster
'I made a mistake': Al Gore's U-turn on corn ethanol as he admits the food-vs-fuel competition is real
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 4:43 AM on 23rd November 2010
Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore said support for corn-based ethanol in the United States was 'not a good policy', weeks before tax credits are up for renewal.
U.S. blending tax breaks for ethanol make it profitable for refiners to use the fuel even when it is more expensive than gasoline. The credits are up for renewal on December 31.
Total U.S. ethanol subsidies reached $7.7billion last year according to the International Energy Industry, which said biofuels worldwide received more subsidies than any other form of renewable energy. U-turn: Al Gore arrives at the conference hall before delivering his speech in Athens, Greece yesterday
U-turn: Al Gore arrives at the conference hall before delivering his speech in Athens, Greece yesterday
'It is not a good policy to have these massive subsidies for (U.S.) first generation ethanol,' said Mr Gore, speaking at a green energy business conference in Athens sponsored by Marfin Popular Bank.
'First generation ethanol I think was a mistake. The energy conversion ratios are at best very small.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
"One of the reasons I made that mistake is that I paid particular attention to the farmers in my home state of Tennessee, and I had a certain fondness for the farmers in the state of Iowa because I was about to run for president."IOW, the end I had in view was my position at the top, not what was best for America. It wasn't about America, it was about Al Gore.
There is a marina here where you can get real gas but it is high.
If you have a few acres of alfalfa, you can make good money also.
For once Al Gore has something right. However his reasons are faulty. Ethanol from any source is always a bad choice as a fuel as it has so little energy per gallon compared with other fuels like gasoline. Just about any means you use to produce ethanol on a large scale takes more energy than will be generated from using it as a fuel. Government subsidies have perpetuated this poor energy policy.
And that without apology ....like we’re supposed to understand? such a narcissist!
This whole ethonol thing was a sham from day one ;-)
“One of the reasons I(ALGORE) made that mistake is that I paid particular attention to the farmers in my home state of Tennessee, and I had certain fondness for the farmers in the state of Iowa because I was about to run for president.”
Let's summarize, shall we, exactly what ALGORE is essentially saying to us:
1. 'I am a pandering scumbag.'
2. 'The Farmers of Tennessee were to blame.' Interesting since ALGORE's home state was is still is DC.
3. 'I'll say or do anything while running for public office, don't you fools know that already'
Thank you, ALGORE! Thank you very much!
If you think that is news, you will love this.
Wesley Clark had been an Ethanol Lobbyist for the past three years.
And why do they pay more? Supply + Demand = Price.Nothing like government fuel mandates to manufacture artificial demand.
When I started visiting my wife's family farm nearly 30 years ago, a variety of crops was observable on the trip through the Heartland.Yes, corn and soy was there, especially in Nebraska (Go Big Red!) - but also wheat, rye, sorghum, sunflowers, oats...That's changed. Last summer what I saw was corn and soy, soy and corn, corn and soy.For what little it's anecdotally worth, most of the folks I talked to acknowledge what I observed, and trace the change to Tommy Daschle & Co. - without whose mandated demand, the profit incentive could not have been manufactured.
” Wesley Clark had been an Ethanol Lobbyist for the past three years.”
No doubt. Many lobby boys make 500,000 to over a million a year. All you need to do is check your ethics at the front door. These days, there are no shortage of prostitutes.
The trouble with the others is that there isn't the demand for such things as sunflowers and rye as there is for corn and soy. Most of the oil seed crops are not that versatile, and the yield for wheat is not the best per acre.
However, with the recent spike in wheat prices, there is more winter wheat being sown.
[The trouble with the others is that there isn’t the demand for such things as sunflowers and rye as there is for corn and soy.]
No government mandates for sunflowers and rye?
The rotation of Corn / Soy has always made sense, it just makes more cents now because of increased demand manufactured via government fuel mandates.
Yes, corn and soy have always been staples in Cornhusker/Aksarben land. The I80 scenery hasn’t changed much since 1979 when I first drove I76/80 from Colorado to Seward...and the summers I spent detassling.
South Dakota, OTOH. At least to me, the change is pretty notable. Last summer I didn’t see a single field of sunflowers on the trip up I-29. Was looking because I wanted to get photos of the fields. Didn’t get any. For the little that’s worth...
Certainly don’t blame farmers for planting what keeps them in business, BTW.
Perhaps in this case. But in the future he should be ignored as he is a snake oil salesman.
First time I have ever heard him speak of the farmers in his state. Interesting comment, sounds like Al may still have a grudge against Tennessee for going to Bush in 2000. Thank God he was never our President. He's a lunatic.
Ind. ethanol plant starts after long halt on work
By AP News
Monday, December 27, 2010
MOUNT VERNON, Ind. (AP) — A company is ramping up production at an ethanol plant in southwestern Indiana that is now operating after construction work was halted for more than a year.Pekin, Ill.-based Aventine Renewable Energy produced its first ethanol on Nov. 30 at the Mount Vernon plant, which it started building in late 2007.Company CEO Thomas Manuel tells the Evansville Courier & Press he knows there was skepticism that the 45-worker plant would ever open. Aventine stopped construction on the plant in late 2008 and didn’t resume until March 2010 after emerging from bankruptcy.The company expects to produce about 110 million gallons of ethanol a year from the plant at full capacity. Production is about 55 percent now and gradually increasing.___Information from: Evansville Courier & Press, http://www.courierpress.com
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