Two days ago, I was violently ill — apparently from something I ate while up in coal country the day before.  After learning of the 86-8 Senate vote on the energy bill this evening, I’m feeling another kind of sickness that runs far deeper.

I’m pained by the knowledge that many hundreds of additional communities are now going to become targets for ethanol biorefineries, including “advanced” biofuels, which will include even more use of biotechnology and which will clear our forests and crop lands to liquidate them to fuel vehicles.  Even more troubling is that much of this will create a demand to try to turn trash, sewage sludge and other contaminated waste streams into liquid fuels (as if fighting landfills and incinerators weren’t enough bad end-of-pipe “solutions” to fight).

I’m pained by the knowledge that the more we succeed in stopping these insane “biofuel” schemes in the U.S., the more we’ll end up importing these fuels and contributing to deforestation and global hunger in other countries.

I’m sickened by the fact that I’m still getting email alerts from Sierra Club and others pretending that the energy bill is worthy of our support.  This lack of a backbone is true for a myriad of national environmental groups who have shamefully promoted good aspects of the bill while failing to warn people about any of the toxic, polluting tragedies that also littered the legislation.

I’m even more disgusted by the knowledge that these national environmental groups won’t be available when hundreds of communities call them for help, trying to protect their air, water, farms and towns from the “biorefineries” coming their way.

We’re already overwhelmed trying to help communities fight these things and our work is going to get FAR bigger.

I wish I could count on the rising food and fuel costs to wake up our nation in the next few years and roll back this misguided 5-fold increase in the “biofuel” mandate.  Unfortunately, we’ll probably see a continuation of the understanding that corn-based ethanol is a terribly idea (and perhaps a roll back of that measure), while the insane worship of cellulosic ethanol continues to drive the push to turn everything from trash to trees into liquid fuels.

…and the sickness doesn’t end.  Right now, the 2008 Omnibus Appropriations bill has language that would provide blank checks for the building of new nuclear reactors, uranium enrichment plants and coal-to-oil and coal-to-gas refineries.  The Farm Bill is also on the table right now, with even more subsidies for liquefying our forests, building more biorefineries, “educating” people about how great biotech food is, and probably plenty more that would turn your stomach if you had time to read and understand the 860 page bill.

Mike Ewall
Energy Justice Network 215-743-4884
catalyst@actionpa.org

Ethanol Opponents List
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