The Ethanol Papers - Paperturn manuscript - Flipbook - Page 312
all close to being significantly different from zero. During the 1990s, inflation-adjusted oil prices and profits were low. But the 1990s also witnessed
the worldwide spread of Wahhabi fundamentalism, the buildup of Hezbollah, and the coming of age of al Qaeda. Note too that al Qaeda terrorists
in the 1990s relied on help from state sponsors such as Sudan and Afghanistan—nations that are not particularly known for their oil wealth or
robust economies. Producer states do use oil revenues to fund ideological extremism. Saudi financing of madrassas and Iranian financing of Hezbollah are good examples. But given the importance of those undertakings to the Saudi and Iranian governments, it is unlikely that they would
cease and desist these activities simply because oil profits were down.
They certainly were not deterred by meager oil profits in the 1990s.”
Oh my, but you are insane. You start by writing that even if Western reliance on
Middle East oil does put money in the hands of terrorists, it’s “not very much,”
that’s like saying “It doesn’t mean anything.” But then you point out that the
attacks on September 11, 2001, only cost a few hundred thousand dollars –
hardly enough to even mention. To a sane person, this means that any money
given to terrorists is too much. A sane person would say “Let’s not do business
at all with an oil producing regime that sponsors terrorists.” A person with a
working brain would say “We must do everything to reduce our dependence on
the product that keeps these murderers in business. We must become energy
independent.”
But not you; no, in the Stossel interview you arrogantly declare that we will never
be energy independent and that domestic alt-fuel sources will never solve the
problem. You may be ultimately correct if you and others are allowed to continue to lie and misrepresent the facts regarding ethanol and other alternative
fuels.
9. You wrote, Regardless, ethanol production cannot displace significant
amounts of gasoline consumption (Akinci et al., 2008). Even if the entire
U.S. corn harvest were dedicated to ethanol production, only 3.5 percent
of current gasoline consumption would be displaced (Eaves and Eaves,
2007). All available cropland in the United States would have to be dedicated to corn production if all U.S. vehicles were powered by fuel composed of E85 ethanol. By 2036, all rangeland and pastureland would have
to be added to that total to maintain adequate production. By 2048, all land
outside of urban centers would be required for corn production (Dias de
Oliveira, Vaughan, and Rykiel, 2005). Thus, no matter one’s opinions
