Obama: Feds May Need To Rethink Ethanol
All Candidates Suggest Biofuel Production And Policies Need Retooling As Food Prices Rise
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"What I've said is my top priority is making sure people are able to get enough to eat. If it turns out we need to make changes in our ethanol policy to help people get something to eat, that has got to be the step we take," said Obama, D-Ill., on NBC's "Meet the Press."
"We have rising food prices around the United States. In other countries, we're seeing riots because of the lack of food supply, so this is something we're going to have to deal with," he said.
Last week, a group of Republican senators including McCain, R-Ariz., asked the Environmental Protection Agency to loosen congressional mandates to blend more ethanol and other renewable fuels into the gasoline supply, saying they are adding significantly to food costs. The mandates are backed by President Bush and senators representing farm states.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., speaking on ABC's "This Week," agreed the issue needs closer review.
"What we need to do is accelerate the research into farm waste and into other cellulosic plant materials. Because, I think, instead of using the corn, let's figure out if we can use the corn cob," she said. "Let's figure out if we can use the corn stalk. Let's figure out what other kind of food, you know, waste we can use."
Clinton added: "In the short run, we've got to work with our farmers and with like-minded people around the world to figure out how this increasing use in biofuels, which is part of our answer to our dependence on foreign oil, does not undermine food production and really accelerate the prices."
Some top international food scientists last month recommended halting the use of food-based biofuels, such as ethanol, saying it would cut corn prices by 20 percent during a world food crisis.
Corn production in Wisconsin is already expected to dip slightly from last year. Wisconsin farmers said they plan to plant 3.65 million acres of corn this year, down 10 percent from 2007 but the same amount planted in 2006.
Matt Hartwig, a spokesman for the Renewable Fuels Association, has said the ethanol industry is exploring many other possible ethanol feedstocks, including wood chips, switchgrass, citrus waste and garbage.
© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.



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See all 238 CommentsYou say stuff like this AFTER you are elected (or selected in Bush''s case)!!
Pretty stupid thing to say right before a "corn belt" primary.
I thought Obama was smarter than that....
You say stuff like this AFTER you are elected (or selected in Bush''''s case)!!
Pretty stupid thing to say right before a "corn belt" primary.
I thought Obama was smarter than that...."---
Posted by jw218389
Advanced strategy - it forces Hillary''s hand whereby she has to either denounce his stance and be trashed once again by world economists the way she was with the gax tax holiday, or else grudgingly agree.
She agreed . . . Barack ends up looking honest with the American people about a tough call while Hillary looks like she was trying to hide something . . .
JAKE TAPPER (ABC NEWS) (Off-camera) Good evening, Charlie. Well, in Indiana, Senator Clinton decries how the company Magnequench moved from Indiana to China in 2003. Magnequench makes high tech magnets with defense applications, including in smart bombs. And now, China has a monopoly on the technology. But there''s one key part of the story Senator Clinton tends to leave out, her husband''s role.
JAKE TAPPER (ABC NEWS) (Voiceover) This rusty, abandoned factory in the heart of Valparaiso, Indiana, housed magnet maker Magnequench until it moved to China, costing more than 200 jobs. It''s a story Senator Hillary Clinton tells a lot as she campaigns throughout the Hoosier State.
SENATOR HILLARY CLINTON (DEMOCRAT) A Chinese company bought Magnequench. And then, they decided that they were going to move the whole company from Indiana to China.
JAKE TAPPER (ABC NEWS) (Voiceover) Over and over again, Clinton blames President Bush for dropping the ball on a national security issue. Including in a new TV ad.
JAKE TAPPER (ABC NEWS) (Voiceover) What Clinton does not say is that her husband could have stopped it because the Chinese bought Magnequench, in 1995, when he was president. And his administration approved the deal, despite national security concerns, raised partly because the Chinese companies were run by sons-in-law of the then-Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping.
PROFESSOR VIRGINIA SHINGLETON (DEPT OF ECONOMICS) If we believe this was truly a national defense issue, it should not - the company should not have been allowed to be sold in 1995.
JAKE TAPPER (ABC NEWS) (Voiceover) One of Senator Clinton''s main arguments, the Chinese now know our secrets.
SENATOR HILLARY CLINTON (DEMOCRAT) Not only did the jobs go to China, but so did the intellectual property and the technological know-how to make those magnets.
JAKE TAPPER (ABC NEWS) (Voiceover) Former Magnequench vice president, Andrew Albers, says that''s false. By the 2003 move, he says the Chinese already knew everything.
JAKE TAPPER (ABC NEWS) (Voiceover) This month Clinton held an event in Valparaiso.
SENATOR HILLARY CLINTON (DEMOCRAT) We''ve got to elect a president next January who''s going to remember Magnequench.
JAKE TAPPER (ABC NEWS) (Voiceover) Clearly some things about Magnequench Clinton has clearly forgotten.
JAKE TAPPER (ABC NEWS)
(Off-camera) The Clinton campaign argues that the Chinese promised in 1995 to keep jobs and technical production in the United States. But, Charlie, they only promised to do that until 2005. And at any rate, they broke that promise. Charlie?
Pretty powerful stuff, wouldn''t you agree? Shouldn''t this have received MUCH MORE media attention, especially given recent gaffes and misstatements by Hillary, not the least of which being her claim that she ducked sniper fire in Bosnia when she was first lady?
Of course, let''s not forget the significance of Indiana to this campaign, or Tuesday''s primary.
Yet, ABC wasn''t the first to notice Hillary''s error concerning Magnequench. The Indianapolis Star reported on April 15: "After all, Magnequench was sold to a consortium that included Chinese investors in 1995 while Bill Clinton was president."
ENERGY POLICY:
On energy policy, it turns out Obama is a big supporter of corn-based ethanol which is well known for being an energy-intensive crop to grow. It is estimated that seven barrels of oil are required to produce eight barrels of corn ethanol, according to research by the Cato Institute. Ethanol''s impact on climate change is nominal and isn''t "green" according to Alisa Gravitz, Co-op America executive director. "It simply isn''t a major improvement over gasoline when it comes to reducing our greenhouse gas emissions." A 2006 University of Minnesota study by Jason Hill and David Tilman, and an earlier study published in BioScience in 2005, concur. (There''s even concern that a reliance on corn-based ethanol would lead to higher food prices.)
So why would Obama be touting this as a solution to our oil dependency? Could it have something to do with the fact that the first presidential primary is located in Iowa, corn capital of the country? In legislative terms this means Obama voted in favor of $8 billion worth of corn subsidies in 2006 alone, when most of that money should have been committed to alternative energy sources such as solar, tidal and wind.
Here''s a few points-build refineries, drill for our own oil, roll back the horrendous taxes-county, state, fed. Just roll them back to where they were a few years ago for God''s sake. The higher gas goes the more money the government rakes in. JC people, stop playing politics with our lives.
Loved when she showed up for photo op when the Niagara Falls Air Base was about to close. She and chuckie took all kinds of credit when in fact, it was a grass roots effort.
He also chose to embrace Bill Ayers. At first I thought this was no big deal. After all, I had many friends in various radical movements (some violent) and if I ran into them on the street today, I would try to be cordial. And guilt by association is pretty sleazy behavior.
William Ayers and Obama worked together for eight years.Obama%uFFFDs wife Michelle is a co worker with Ayers wife . William Ayers sure looks happy jumping on the American Flag doesn%uFFFDt he? Every time I hear someone say Obama can%uFFFDt be responsible for what other people do or say I say back to them that you are known by the company you keep. SORRY MY VOTE IS FOR HILLARY 2008
YES WE CON!
You know *** well that that was based on the assumption that Gore would win the Presidency, and that if he had things would certainly be different in this country. If your going to throw out accusations at least be honest in yeilding the complete argument. Otherwise you are doing nothing more than what Obama has accused others of doing - using snipets to make their case.
He also chose to embrace Bill Ayers. At first I thought this was no big deal. After all, I had many friends in various radical movements (some violent) and if I ran into them on the street today, I would try to be cordial. And guilt by association is pretty sleazy behavior.
William Ayers and Obama worked together for eight years.Obama''s wife Michelle is a co worker with Ayers wife . William Ayers sure looks happy jumping on the American Flag doesn''t he? Every time I hear someone say Obama can''t be responsible for what other people do or say I say back to them that you are known by the company you keep. SORRY MY VOTE IS FOR HILLARY 2008 Obama has no experience. RIGHT YES WE CON...HE RIPPED OFF BILL CLINTON IN HIS 1992 DEBATE CHANGE WE NEED CHANGE.. THE GUY IS SO FULL OF HIMSELF PLEASE.
HILLARY 2008
LOOK FOR YOURSELF OBAMA FANS:
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He also chose to embrace Bill Ayers. At first I thought this was no big deal. After all, I had many friends in various radical movements (some violent) and if I ran into them on the street today, I would try to be cordial. And guilt by association is pretty sleazy behavior.
William Ayers and Obama worked together for eight years.Obama''''''''s wife Michelle is a co worker with Ayers wife . William Ayers sure looks happy jumping on the American Flag doesn''''''''t he? Every time I hear someone say Obama can''''''''t be responsible for what other people do or say I say back to them that you are known by the company you keep. SORRY MY VOTE IS FOR HILLARY 2008 Obama has no experience. RIGHT YES WE CON...HE RIPPED OFF BILL CLINTON IN HIS 1992 DEBATE CHANGE WE NEED CHANGE.. THE GUY IS SO FULL OF HIMSELF PLEASE.
LOOK FOR YOURSELF OBAMA FANS:
object width="425" height="355" param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/7-W4GWjN
2kg&hl=en" /param param name="wmode" value="transparent" /param embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/7-W4GWjN2k
g&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355" /embed /object
OBAMA/WRIGHT 08
YES WE CON!
Cellulose biofuels are better than corn for lots of reasons, but the one that gets the press is SUVs versus starving people. Logic and reason have not place when it comes to emotions based on lies.
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