03/01/06 CRP and energy independence

Farm and Ranch March 1, 2006 Some critics of biofuels think the idea of renewable fuels providing the United States with transportation energy independence is just a fantasy. There just isn't enough land to do it and then there is the moral question of using farmland to produce fuel in stead of food. Former CIA Director James Woolsey disagrees with those critics. Speaking at the 6th annual Harvesting Clean Energy Conference in Spokane this week, Woolsey pointed to a report from the national Energy Policy Commission which talked about the Conservation Reserve Program and cellulosic ethanol. Woolsey: "It was recommended by the Energy Policy Commission, determined by the Commission, that you wouldn't need anymore land in total than the 30 million that are in the soil bank program now. It might be just 30 million slightly different acres. But with this 30 million, with these assumptions you can replace half the country's gasoline just with cellulosic ethanol." 24 And what are those assumptions? Woolsey says the mileage of U.S. cars would have to improve to the level of say Europe, from a current 25 mile per gallon average to about 42 miles, grass yields, in particular switchgrass yields, would have to double on CRP and there would need to be improvements in cellulosic ethanol production technology. Woolsey sees biofuels as the quickest and best bet for U.S. energy security as it doesn't need massive research like automotive hydrogen would and can use the existing energy infrastructure. And he said for about 100-dollars a unit, Detroit could make all its vehicles capable of running on 85 percent ethanol. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.