Wesley Clark: Ethanol's Field General
Submitted by kaflinn on July 3, 2009 - 2:27am.
ethanol | renewable energy | Wind Energy
Great article on Wes and what he's doing with ethanol and wind energy! (full article also includes CNN videos I posted earlier here.) Wesley Clark: Ethanol's field generalTriumphant just a few years ago, the ethanol industry now finds itself embattled. Enter Wesley Clark to rally the troops.<!--startclickprintexclude--><!--endclickprintexclude-->Jon Birger, senior writerLast Updated: July 2, 2009: 5:25 PM ET<!--startclickprintexclude-->
(Fortune Magazine) -- If ever there were an industry in need of a general, it's the ethanol industry. Already under siege from food companies blaming biofuels for rising grocery prices, ethanol companies are now seeing their profit margins crushed by falling prices for their product. Compounding the problem, many environmentalists -- who five minutes ago seemed to be in ethanol's corner -- have turned against the corn-based fuel.
Reporting for duty in ethanol's counterattack: Wesley Clark, the retired four-star general and former NATO commander, who signed on in February as co-chairman of an upstart ethanol trade group called Growth Energy. Clark, 64, has fully embraced the private sector since ending his run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004. In addition to co-chairing Growth Energy, Clark is on the board of Dutch wind-turbine maker Juhl Wind and serves as chairman of the New York investment bank Rodman & Renshaw (RODM). At Growth Energy, Clark has lobbied against efforts in California to hold ethanol accountable for deforestation in Brazil, he's pushed back against claims that diverting corn to ethanol drives up food prices, and he's spoken out in favor of a Growth Energy proposal to increase the maximum allowable ethanol blend in conventional gasoline to 15% from 10%.
Without support for corn ethanol now, Clark says, the industry won't be able to fund advances in second-generation cellulosic ethanol made from nonfood inputs such as switchgrass. He also contends that the extra 7 billion gallons a year that would be produced with a move to so-called E15 gasoline equates to $10.5 billion that American consumers would no longer be spending on foreign oil. "Some people would rather pay that money out to other countries, because they take a slice of it," Clark says, jabbing at the oil industry. "But I would ask you, What is better for the country?"
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Wesley Clark, retired general and now co-chairman of Growth Energy, an ethanol trade group
Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO
Wes Clark: "We're no better than our own sense of humility."
Looked at the last line where Wes says, "nobody goes to war over growing corn." Sadly, at some point the wars will be resource wars for decent farm land and water. Some of the African wars already are about these resources.
Go, Wes, go!!
The General gets it right.
Competence--What a concept!
is what leadership looks like!! Thank you for bringing this over Kelly, and as always, thanks to our General for walking the walk!
I knew that Wes's interest in ethanol was not based on growing corn, but on advancing the industry. The guy's always a few steps ahead of everyone else.
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right.
(at the end of the article)
Both Clark and Buis contend that the facts don't support Searchinger's thesis. "Rainforest deforestation in Brazil fell by half at the same time that we doubled ethanol production," Clark says. He adds that he has no problem incorporating indirect impacts when evaluating the pluses and minuses of various fuels. He just wants to make sure oil gets similar treatment.
"In the whole 20th century, what you've seen is that the struggle for access to petroleum is a struggle of armies and navies that results in war," he says.
"I participated in this in my 34 years of military service, and I can tell you that none of those indirect impacts apply to corn-based ethanol.
Nobody goes to war about growing corn."
Isn't that refreshing? Telling it like it is re the Oil Wars. The last official I heard do that was Jimmy Carter in the 70's!
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LJM, I agree about water and food as potential sources of future wars and conflicts - but the bulk of the unrest in Africa today is still coming from petrol and fossil fuels issues. Especially in the Niger Delta, but even more particularly now ... from offshore. And recently the Mahgreb, to the North. The unfortunate byproduct of corrupt officials and regimes who sell out to Big Oil and Gas... is the spiraling poverty and starvation that the people are then left with. And they know they're being played, they know who the players are... nobody is being fooled by this Shell game (pun intended) in the worst violation zones.
Now Zambia had the misfortune of having copper in their earth, and Zimbabwe - Platinum.... making them qualify, by default, for that nebulous and dangerous realm we refer to as "our interests". Meaning we send in the economic hit men from the IMF and World Bank to loan money they will never be able to pay back, destabilize currencies, so that eventually mining concerns will sell in a bottom-out fire sale to multinational conglomerates - for mere pennies on the dollar and privatization rules the day. Oh where have I seen this movie before? :/
I will say, China has swooped in and learned to look out for their "interests" in Africa with great success lately too...
Rich countries are buying up land in poor countries to grow food. It's pretty much outsourcing farming for these countries. It mentions that some of the crops grown will be for biofuel. The people living in those countries will face "food insecurity" for themselves. The land being used will also devastated by the farming methods. The poor countries won't be able to clean it all up when the resource is depleted for the rich country.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jul/03/land-grabbing-food-environment
I'm still thinking the US needs to tear down the strip malls and McMansion that are going empty and return the land in places where it was good farm land, back to farming.
I'm just going to bed but had to comment on that picture! Love it... ;D