Texas Governor Rick Perry on biofuels

Wednesday, August 13, 2008 10:41 AM
From: "Arnold Nelson" <ah_nelson@yahoo.com>
To: "WSJ Letters" <wsj.ltrs@wsj.com>

Chicago, Wednesday AM, August 13, 2008

Editors, Wall Street Journal

Gentlepeople: Texas Governor Rick Perry's Tuesday, August 12, 2008 Wall Street Journal OpEd "Texas Is Fed Up With Corn Ethanol" is refreshingly clear and understandable, in contrast to the usual blarney put out on the subject by the Washington Bureaucrats. Even those attributes are multiplied considering his direct knowledge and responsibility in the area.

It makes me wonder why we hear so rarely about attributes of the subject that influence it more than any other: Biofuels come from only a 2-dimensional space, the surface of the earth, and only 1/3 of that not covered by salt water. And that is further limited by corn's inability to grow just anywhere. Oil on the other hand comes from a 3-dimensional space, all that's under the surface of the earth, and the entire surface, covered by water or not. The depth of that space is ultimately limited to 4,000 miles, but so far we've only tried the first eight miles, and that in only a very few locations. Brilliant geologists are constantly working to predict the best places to try, but I think even they would agree that the final, absolute, proof of oil existence anywhere in that space is drilling a hole that results in oil coming out.

Also, biofuels are said to be 'renewable.' But how often? Pretty much only annually, and corn especially is effectively less than even that, requiring rotation with other crops to avoid exhausting the soil. Oil is assumed to be 'exhaustible', but considering the number of places where we've proved it is or isn't compared to the places we've left to look, for all practical purposes it is as good as renewable.

Arnold H. Nelson
5056 North Marine Drive Chicago IL 60640
773-677-3010 ah_nelson@yahoo.com