LUCY NORTON TALKS ENERGY INDEPENDENCE FOR IOWA
by Molly Regan
An
article by LUCY NORTON, director of marketing for the IOWA Corn Growers
Association of Johnston, appeared in the Saturday, July 16, edition of
the Des Moines Register.
Entitled
“ETHANOL KEY TO PROMOTING ENERGY INDEPENDENCE,” it is a very positive
look at freeing IOWANS and the United States from relying on foreign
oil.
“Burning
ethanol lowers carbon-monoxide emissions as much as 30 percent and
reduces greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming by 35
percent to 46 percent. THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
credits ethanol with reducing hazardous emissions.”
According
to Ms. Norton, “When habitual ethanol critics claim it takes more
energy to produce ethanol than one ends up with, they are just plain
wrong. It’s gasoline refining that results in an energy deficit,
returning just 85 Btus of energy for every 100 Btus used in production.
“Ethanol’s
positive energy balance has been confirmed by multiple studies.
Adding up the energy used to produce the crop, transport it to a
processor and refine it, the 100 Btus invested in ethanol production
give us 167 BTUS OF ENERGY.”
“The
U.S. ethanol industry is already close to producing the 5 billion
gallons of ethanol originally targeted by Congress. Increasing
the renewable fuel standard to 8 billion gallons is one truly
progressive provision in the energy bill, a target that will maintain
the momentum of ethanol growth and move us toward energy independence.”
Another
great article on the same editorial page is by ED WOOSLEY. Ed,
who is from Martensdale, works with farmers on renewable-energy
projects.
He tells
us, “ In 2004, about 17 percent of IOWA’s corn crop went into ethanol
production. This produced almost 1 billion gallons of ethanol and
just as importantly, rural income….With ethanol’s proven technical
ABILITY TO COMPLETELY REPLACE BOTH GASOLINE AND DIESEL FUEL, THE
COMPLETE ELIMINATION OF PETROLEUM FUEL IMPORTS TO IOWA IS WITHIN REACH.
“But an
even more promising future is possible if we make ethanol from the
CELLULOSE COMPONENTS OF PLANTS – CORNSTALKS, STRAW AND OTHER FIBROUS
PLANT MATERIAL. Technology currently exists to make more than 80
gallons of ethanol from each ton of plant material. The obvious
initial plant material would be cornstalks. If we took 1 ton of
stalks from every acre of IOWA’s 12.7 million acres of corn, ground and
convert it to ethanol, we could produce another BILLION GALLONS and
still leave enough stalks on the ground to maintain the soil.”
The
energy bill passed by the Senate would authorize subsidies to companies
that produce ethanol from cornstalks, wheat straw and other plant
waste. The House bill doesn’t have the provision….”
Found on the front page of the same day’s
Register, is a glaring look at pollution in IOWA’s lakes.
Entitled “TESTS FIND HARMFUL TOXINS IN IOWA LAKES by PERRY BEEMAN, it
exposes the high toxicity in some of IOWA’s waters. Not a pretty story.
So, for this week, let us not forget to CPR…CONSERVE/PARTICIPATE/RECYCLE
Blog For Iowa 
However, all the renewable fuels in the world will not help ease our oil crisis if we do not also encourage more gas stations to carry renewable fuels and develop a viable market for “flex fuel” vehicles that can run on all types of fuels. Instead of investing in these new technologies, Washington has mostly focused on showering tax breaks and subsidies to the oil companies. We need leaders who make energy security our number one priority, instead of an election-year ploy.
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