The Ethanol Papers - Paperturn manuscript - Flipbook - Page 574
I have always disagreed with combining the issues of energy independence and
global warming, and I have counseled global warming believers to do the same.
Ending our dependence on foreign oil has sufficient justification without having
to rely on something that even the most ardent GW alarmists are not quite certain about. If, and I believe when, the theory of global warming is finally disproven, it will shut down whatever alternative energy efforts were begun simply
because of the alarm. That would be very unfortunate for alternate fuels. The
battle for the use of ethanol as a viable alternative to oil should be fought on its
own merits; and as you will read, it is fully armed to do so.
Electric vehicles are a wonderful promise, and when the time comes that technology and cost of production make it possible for the car manufacturers to
profitably produce them in sufficient quantities it will be a boon to mankind.
However, the technologies are not yet here and the cost is way too high. So
maybe in 20, 30, 40 years, or 80 years – according to some reports – electric
vehicles will have a great impact on our reliance on any liquid fuel. But for now
and the foreseeable future they are what my business partner, Bob Gordon,
long ago dubbed as merely “a diversion, not a solution.”
More to the point, Bob has written extensively that electric cars are just a diversion sponsored and used by the oil industry as a divide-and-conquer tactic. As
long as the public can be dazzled and bamboozled by the glitz of electric wizardry, our minds will be taken off the deployment of existing non-fossil fuel alternatives. I completely agree with Bob on this point (actually, Bob and I agree
on almost everything including pizza, bagels, and wine – I guess that’s why
we’ve been great friends and business partners for almost 30 years).
Every time we learn of another electric vehicle company closing its doors we
are only more certain of our position on electric vehicles.
But wait, I’m not done with this point yet. As if I would have ordered it up from
room service, Robert Bryce helps to prove the point that the oil industry and its
shills are backing electric vehicles as a divide and conquer scheme. About a
year after Bryce finished the final edits on the first edition of GUSHER OF LIES,
he added an “Epilogue To The Paperback Edition.”
Throughout the original book and the epilogue, Bryce has nothing good to say
about any non-fossil fuel or any alternative energy solutions, which includes
wind energy and solar. Needless to say, he is against all subsidies given to the
alternative solutions. He dislikes everything and rips them to shreds to the best
of his ability. It doesn’t matter if the data he relies upon is right or wrong, he has
nothing good to say.
