Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Al Gore: Politics, not science, motivated him


While Vice President, Al Gore pushed for subsidies for corn-based ethanol. He cast the tie-breaking vote in the Senate in 1994 upholding the Environmental Protection Agency's requirement that ethanol be part of all gasoline additives.  As a result, 41% of the total corn crop that was previously raised for food (for people or livestock) is now diverted to fuel production.  This diversion has resulted in higher food prices.  (I've written on this before.)

Now, at a recent "green" conference in Athens, Gore confessed that the subsidies were a bad idea.  The energy conversion ratio from corn to fuel "is very small."  His support for the subsidies was based on his own political ambitions, not science.  Gore said, "I paid particular attention to the farmers in my home state of Tennessee....and I had a certain fondness for the farmers in the state of Iowa because I was about to run for president."

We knew all this before.  The only thing newsworthy about this story is that Gore confessed in public.

1 comment:

Mango's Madness said...

Al Gore is a liar, just as all of his posse is. I am worn out by all of the lies and tales our government continues to throw at us. I read that there is 4700 Federal Laws on the books and all of us have broken at least one. Every one of their laws require prison time. So whats next, when we turn 65 we are required to turn ourselves in for extermination!

Mango