Cap and Trade - The Ol' Switch-A-Roo

I can't believe the big push that continues on promoting ethanol as way to reduce the consumption of oil. Not only does it not make sense to burn our food as fuel, it does not make sense as a way to reduce carbon emissions. It's another example of government not being able to make sensible decisions -- something that is true any time government operates outside of the areas in which it is supposed to operate.

What's wrong with ethanol? Let's just look at what will happen regarding cap and trade (a law that is supposed to reduce carbon emissions).

A new paper published in Science Magazine, a magazine not known to be critical of politically liberal ideas, reveals that ethanol generates the same or more greenhouse gases than burning fossil fuels.

Here's the first slight of hand that makes no sense: carbon generated by ethanol is supposed to be better than carbon from fossil fuels, because it "generates no new carbon." How does this work? Ethanol comes from plants. It makes carbon that goes into the atmosphere. Plants absorb carbon from the atmosphere. Thus the carbon from burning ethanol is recycled back into plants. Of course, carbon from burning fossil fuels also is recycled into plants. Plants can't tell the difference between ethanol generated carbon and fossil fuel generated carbon. It's all the same to them.

But here's where the case for burning ethanol breaks down even further. Biofuels are generally grown in third world countries. Ethanol is generally burned in developed countries. To grow the plants that are used to make biofuel mature forests are burned. Carbon that normally would accumulate in those forests is released to the atmosphere. Developed countries get cap and trade credit from ethanol even though they are generating the carbon emissions, and their biofuel is usually grown in a developing country where rain forests are burned down to make room to grow biofuel.

You can feel good about using biofuel. By using ethanol you are not only pushing people in developing countries closer to starvation by making food more expensive, you are striping their country of natural forests and adding to the carbon in the atmosphere. Way to go!!