First Name | Christopher |
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Last Name | Calder |
Email Address | calderhome@yahoo.com |
Affiliation | none at all! |
Subject | Biofuel disaster must be stopped now! |
Comment | Biofuels are causing food and water shortages, rapid food cost inflation, and are speeding global warming. Oil price increases have not shrunk the human food supply, but biofuel production has! The more biofuels we produce, the less food we have to eat, because we grow biofuel crops, even switchgrass, using the same land, water, fertilizer, farm equipment, and labor we use to grow food. The world is running out of wheat because too many wheat farmers have switched to growing corn for ethanol production. The USDA states that by May US wheat supplies will be lower than any time since 1948. The FAO states global food prices rose 40% in 2007. When America foolishly turns its food into fuel, we raise food prices worldwide which gives other countries a financial incentive to burn down rainforests in order to grow more food. It takes 9,000 gallons of water to create just 1 gallon of biodiesel, so biofuel production aggravates water shortages. The twisted logic of biofuel advocates has been that we should gladly starve the world today by turning our food into fuel, but in a few years the world can eat again because we will soon make biofuels out of easy to grow inedible cellulose crops instead of food. Three agricultural economists with insider knowledge from Iowa State University have published a study which states that ethanol made from cellulose will never be affordable. Federal tax credits would have to be raised from the current $.51 per gallon for corn ethanol to $1.55 per gallon for cellulosic ethanol. That means no ethanol from switchgrass, wood chips, or crop waste will ever be sellable. http://www.card.iastate.edu/publications/DBS/PDFFiles/08wp460.pdf This comes on top of the recent Princeton University study published in the journal SCIENCE that concludes that all current and proposed future biofuels, even switchgrass, are far worse for the environment and global warming than using ordinary gasoline. http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1151861 Nitrogen fertilizers used to grow anything unleash nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas 296 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. Farming contributes more to global warming each year than all land, sea, and air transportation combined, so farming should only be used for essential food production. The global destruction caused by biofuels makes no sense strategically because by 2015 it is estimated that oil from shale will cost only $30 a barrel to manufacture, and there is far more oil potential in American shale than in the entire Middle East before drilling began in 1908. The "energy independence" argument for biofuels is a hoax because American biodiesel made out of soybeans costs the equivalent of making regular diesel out of oil at $232 a barrel. Making ethanol from corn costs the equivalent of oil at $81. a barrel and uses 28% more fossil fuels than gasoline. MORE BIOFUEL FACTS - http://home.att.net/~meditation/bio-fuel-hoax.html Christopher Calder - concerned citizen with no connection to any special interest group 377 W 8th, apt. 114 Eugene, Oregon 97401 541-345-6372 |
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Date and Time Comment Was Submitted | 2008-03-17 16:58:58 |
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