Obama to add to crisis of record-high food prices and deaths that necessarily accompany them by pouring more US tax dollars into biofuels

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What $14.6 trillion in debt, says Obama? Now diverts $510 million tax dollars to biofuel cronies as world organizations cite starvation and high food prices due to biofuels.

8/16/11, "Obama the biofool," Washington Times Editorial

"Leftists see the military more as a playground for kooky ideas than as the primary responsibility of the federal government. Consider the scheme President Obama announced Tuesday that will have the armed forces devote a great deal of time, money and energy to switch to so-called advanced biofuels. Underneath the trendy “green” label, however, is a

• classic example of pork-barrel politics.

Under the White House plan, the Departments of Agriculture, Energy and the Navy will divert $510 million in taxpayer funds to develop less efficient sources of power to meet the Navy’s transportation needs. This represents a small down payment, as Navy Secretary Ray Mabus committed to converting half of the Navy’s petroleum use to biofuel by the year 2020. That’s an expensive proposition. The combined services last year used 130 million barrels of petroleum, worth about $13.4 billion, according to Defense Logistics Agency figures. Military experiments with various plant, animal-fat and algae-based fuels represented a fraction of even the daily need of the world’s single largest consumer of oil.

So the plan is to subsidize these pie-in-the-sky boondoggles. “Current processes for producing advanced drop-in biofuels are expensive,” an administration memorandum explained. “Therefore, it is necessary that the federal government cooperates with industry to create a strong demand signal and to make targeted investments to achieve the necessary production capacity required.” In other words, nobody in their right mind would select this stuff as a fuel. Despite being $14.6 trillion in debt, the Obama administration plans to blow millions

• investing in something the private sector says is a fool’s bet.

White House talking points refer to the plan’s importance as an “energy security” measure. The idea is that each bizarre source of fuel harvested in the United States reduces the amount imported from Middle Eastern sources. It sounds good, but there’s an easier and cheaper way to accomplish the same goal. Instead of wasting time trying to power military vehicles with sunshine and dreams, lifting the administration’s blockade on America’s vast reserves of black gold would go further in reducing our dependence on foreign suppliers. Oil is the most efficient and reliable source of power for our ships, tanks, airplanes and automobiles.

With Mr. Obama as commander in chief, there’s no telling what comes next. He’s already ordered green fuel and green bullets. Perhaps the next move is to ensure our bombs are environmentally friendly so he can claim to be saving the planet, one explosion at a time."

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Commenter to WT

"esposal

During the Bush administration, the USAF first stated its intent to use biofuels. The goal was to use a 50% blend of biofuel with petroleum based fuel for half of their domestic needs. The fuels have been tested and certified by the ASTM. Commercial airlines are right behind. The remaining hurdle is production cost. President Obama's problem

• is that he is so far behind the curve."

---------I'm glad the left is starting to find out what a good friend they had in George Bush. He loved ethanol as did his brother Jeb who could be the worst of them all. ed.

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2/11/2008, "The European Commission said last month that... the drive for these fuels has done unforeseen damage, like endangering rain forests in Asia and causing a rise in food prices"...

• 2/11/2008, "Bloomberg slams US Energy law over corn ethanol" Reuters by Louis Charbonneau and Timothy Gardner

United Nations, "A new US energy law will cause an increase in global food prices and lead to starvation deaths worldwide because it continues to promote corn ethanol, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Monday.

"People literally will starve to death in parts of the world,

• it always happens when food prices go up,"
  

Bloomberg told reporters after addressing a U.N. General Assembly debate on climate change.

The new U.S. law, which came into force late last year, increased fivefold the required amount of blending of biofuels like corn ethanol -- creating higher demand for the grain that

• will push up corn prices."...

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7/7/11, "World food prices near record high: Oxfam reaction," Oxfam.org

"The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has just published its food price index which shows a sharp rise in June, after a steep increase in the price of sugar.

Thierry Kesteloot, Oxfam food policy lead:

"Global food prices are now sitting nearly 40% higher that at this time last year. The big story this month was a 14% spike in global sugar prices because Brazil's production is forecast to fall, alongside the unrelenting pressure to keep diverting so much sugar into biofuels in order to keep global fuel prices down. Biofuel mandates are creating an inflexible demand for feed-stocks

• which drives up food prices.

"This steady climb in global food prices is hurting millions of poor people, many of whom already spend up to 80% of their income on food. The international community have been far too weak and slow in responding. The G20 and the Committee on Food Security need to tackle price volatility much more aggressively by phasing out biofuels targets, building up food reserves and improving transparency around food stock levels, so that we know what food is available in order to manage stocks accordingly.""

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