EPA Retreats on Ethanol, Cancels Biomass-Diesel Mix Increase
- Thread starter MarcusW
- Start date
gulfcoastguy
Veteran Member
When all of your topsoil is running down to the Gulf of Mexico, when midwestern water wells are contaminated with nitrogen from fertilizer, and when food prices are soaring, and when almost all of our oil comes from north america we can act.
Lug_Nut
TDIClub Enthusiast, Pre-Forum Veteran Member
- Joined
- Jun 20, 1998
- Location
- Sterling, Massachusetts. USA
- TDI
- idi: 1988 Bolens DGT1700H, the other oil burner: 1967 Saab Sonett II two stroke
But if it's someone else's jungle bring cut down, someone else's vista being strip-mined, someone else's shore being oil-soaked, well, we just don't give a rat's @$$.
Just wait until we find out how much worse than CO2 our preference for methane is and we'll finally cut back on that, but until then, we call it "natural" gas and pretend it's good for the planet. I mean, it is 'natural', isn't it?
Just wait until we find out how much worse than CO2 our preference for methane is and we'll finally cut back on that, but until then, we call it "natural" gas and pretend it's good for the planet. I mean, it is 'natural', isn't it?
LarBear
Veteran Member
Burning "natural" gas (not all methane), or methane captured from landfills produces less CO2 than burning pretty much anything else, and for all those who are thrilled that some whizbang new energy source only produces water vapor remember that water vapor has 4X the greenhouse gas effect as CO2. Ain't no free lunch out there. Too many people, who's volunteering to depart?
Pat Dolan
Veteran Member
First of all, I have to say that this may be the ONLY forum on the interweb where such a discussion can happen intelligently and civilly.
John Q. Public is so busy trying to keep up with the Jonses and digest the endless stream of complete BS from the words and worlds of finance, real estate, drug sales, medical insurance, politics and so on that the lines of complete BS from the EPA and the Nader/Claybrook types just slip under the radar.
How so? Well, as populations become more and more urbanized, and as agriculture moves from family sustainance to big food business, issues such as ag inputs, ag economics, direct cash subsidies, food production, soil degradation and aquifer depletion/fouling are no longer polite dinner table conversation. Our new religion of pure greed has replaced the pursuit of Mom-and-apple-pie as the American (and Canadian) dream.
(rant almost over - on edit) That being said, I can't herald this one tiny glimmer of hope from the morons of the EPA as any sign of intelligent life within. It would be the same as declaring your sadistic captor a human rights God because he had switched from beating you with a big, sharp, thorny club to a medium, sharp, thorny club and still rubbing salt in the wounds.
Worse yet, while the process is no longer visible (or sought) by John Q, the results are not immediately visible. If it doesn't come on Bloomberg's daily market report threatening the purely fictitious value of the purely fictitious "investment" in their 401k , it just isn't an issue to anyone. On top of that, it isn't sexy enough for the media, who all get caught up in their OWN BS and chase red herrings such as hydraulic fracturing, global "warming" or far, far more important: which Hollywood starlet is banging which Hollywood druggie.
A few years ago, we took Mamma's TDI on a road trip from 'toon Town to my Grandfather's birthplace (Lancaster PA) that took us through a few days of farm fields. From the SK/ND border all of the way to the Alleghenies we saw no more than a few fields NOT sown to corn or soy. When you realize that US direct farm subsidies amount to something around 85% of Canada's gross farm domestic product, THAT is a big deal.
To me, letting political stupidity and expedience drive the entire agriculture industry is even more ridiculous than abandoning the creation of wealth by production to China without a fight.
In this "enlightened" age, we seem to manage to chose the diametrically opposed, WRONG policy for almost every major social, economic, military or diplomatic issue.
(rant almost over on edit): I can't herald this tiny glimmer of light form within the dark orifice that is the EPA as any sign that there is intelligent life within. It would be as silly as saying that your sadistic captor had become a human rights activist because they had switched from beating you with a BIG, sharp, thorny club to a MEDIUM, sharp, thorny club while still continuing to rub salt in the wounds.
John Q. Public is so busy trying to keep up with the Jonses and digest the endless stream of complete BS from the words and worlds of finance, real estate, drug sales, medical insurance, politics and so on that the lines of complete BS from the EPA and the Nader/Claybrook types just slip under the radar.
How so? Well, as populations become more and more urbanized, and as agriculture moves from family sustainance to big food business, issues such as ag inputs, ag economics, direct cash subsidies, food production, soil degradation and aquifer depletion/fouling are no longer polite dinner table conversation. Our new religion of pure greed has replaced the pursuit of Mom-and-apple-pie as the American (and Canadian) dream.
(rant almost over - on edit) That being said, I can't herald this one tiny glimmer of hope from the morons of the EPA as any sign of intelligent life within. It would be the same as declaring your sadistic captor a human rights God because he had switched from beating you with a big, sharp, thorny club to a medium, sharp, thorny club and still rubbing salt in the wounds.
Worse yet, while the process is no longer visible (or sought) by John Q, the results are not immediately visible. If it doesn't come on Bloomberg's daily market report threatening the purely fictitious value of the purely fictitious "investment" in their 401k , it just isn't an issue to anyone. On top of that, it isn't sexy enough for the media, who all get caught up in their OWN BS and chase red herrings such as hydraulic fracturing, global "warming" or far, far more important: which Hollywood starlet is banging which Hollywood druggie.
A few years ago, we took Mamma's TDI on a road trip from 'toon Town to my Grandfather's birthplace (Lancaster PA) that took us through a few days of farm fields. From the SK/ND border all of the way to the Alleghenies we saw no more than a few fields NOT sown to corn or soy. When you realize that US direct farm subsidies amount to something around 85% of Canada's gross farm domestic product, THAT is a big deal.
To me, letting political stupidity and expedience drive the entire agriculture industry is even more ridiculous than abandoning the creation of wealth by production to China without a fight.
In this "enlightened" age, we seem to manage to chose the diametrically opposed, WRONG policy for almost every major social, economic, military or diplomatic issue.
(rant almost over on edit): I can't herald this tiny glimmer of light form within the dark orifice that is the EPA as any sign that there is intelligent life within. It would be as silly as saying that your sadistic captor had become a human rights activist because they had switched from beating you with a BIG, sharp, thorny club to a MEDIUM, sharp, thorny club while still continuing to rub salt in the wounds.
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Hope you realize that some farmers do a little better jobs then others. My top soil doesn't blow. The proper amount of fertilizer is soil incorporated. Not broadcasted, which is faster, cheaper, and at risk of washing away. My water wells, that's my drinking water, you can bet I'm going to take care of it!!
The best thing that can happen to AG is to get the government out!!
gulfcoastguy
Veteran Member
All of my grandparents and their ancestors were farmers: cotton, vegetables for the canneries and pickle factory that used to be there, small amounts of corn for personal consumption and their own cattle feed, peaches, figs, ect. They didn't have the best soil but they knew about crop location, contour farming with terrace rows ect.
That's good
