The epic continues: A handful of chronically floundering non-innovative companies which have contributed more to the current climate disaster than almost anyone else continue to run the country in the most asinine, illogical and Orwellian fashion possible. Who am I talking about? The U.S. automakers, of course. Meeting with President Bush, the Big 3’s CEOs pronounced with a straight face that ethanol is the answer to the country’s environmental and national security issues.
Do these guys read the paper? Any paper? Here’s a sampling of headlines from this year alone:
• “The truth about ethanol,” AP, March 17
• “A test tells the story of ethanol vs. gasoline,” San Jose Mercury News, March 11
• “Ethanol is still a long way off in U.S.,” Los Angeles Times, March 10
• “Ethanol is politicians’ snake oil,” Denver Post, February 15
• “It’s time to move beyond ethanol,” The Houston Chronicle, January 26
• “Bush’s ‘clean fuel’ move may cause more harm, say environmentalists,” The Independent, January 25
• “Bush pushes plan to cut gasoline use; Tours DuPont ethanol research site,” Plain Dealer, January 25
• “Contradictions seen in alternative energy plan,” Los Angeles Times, January 24
There’s plenty more where that came from. Here’s a quick synopsis of what’s wrong with the ethanol “solution”:
• The only flex-fuel vehicles the automakers have made thus far are versions of their biggest gas-guzzlers.
• We don’t have enough land to grow the corn to make the ethanol we need to drive all of our cars.
• Corn-based ethanol—the only kind currently available in the United States—requires as much fossil fuel to produce as it generates.
• It costs more than gasoline, and will almost certainly drive up the price of corn and meat.
• As a car burns ethanol, it produces slightly less greenhouse gases than a conventional car. But you know what burns less—a lot less—than a flex-fuel vehicle? A hybrid vehicle. So why aren’t U.S. automakers making any hybrid vehicles?
If you’ve seen “Who Killed the Electric Car?,” you’ll know the answer already: The Big 3 promise things which will take years to develop, and then they wait for the political winds to change so they never deliver on their promises. It’s time to give these losers the boot.
