In the event you didn't hear the news, a 3 member panel UNANIMOUSLY OVERTURNED the NFL's Roger Godell's "bounty gate" penalty against Johathan Vilma, Will Smith and the other two former Saints, and they are authorized to return to the team IMMEDIATELY! Great news for the Saints!
BIG game for our LSU Tigers tomorrow. Sad to hear that offensive lineman Chris Faulk out for the season due to a knee injury he suffered in practice. This will be a real test for QB Mettenberger and the young LSU corners and safeties. Washington is a very good team and I'm sure there is nothing they'd like better to beat the #2 ranked team in the Country. The game is televised at 6:00 pm on ESPN.
Another article on ethanol's "eco hoax" you may find interesting.
Have a GREAT WEEKEND readers!
"Pete"
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Ethanol is an eco-hoax that
we can’t afford
Carol
Goar - Thu
Sep 06 2012
Remember Corn Cob Bob?
The goofy-looking mascot for
the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association — a farmer’s body with a bright yellow
corn cob head — was ubiquitous a few years ago. So was his creator, Kory
Teneycke, executive director of the association.
They showed up at farmers’
markets, fall fairs and holiday celebrations promoting ethanol. Then they
started appearing at political events alongside MPs and cabinet ministers.
It was one of the most
effective marketing campaigns in recent memory. By 2005, three provinces —
Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario — had set mandatory standards for ethanol in
gasoline. In 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper made it national; all Canadian
gasoline and diesel had to contain five per cent ethanol.
In 2008, he appointed
Teneycke as communications director.
The ambitious 38-year-old
lobbyist has moved on now. He is vice-president of Sun News Network. Corn Cob
Bob has vanished.
But the consequences of their
campaign live on, affecting farmers, carmakers, gasoline retailers, drivers and
even public transit users. In Ontario, regular gas typically contains 10 per
cent ethanol, midgrade gas contains five per cent and premium has zero. (Diesel
has two per cent.)
These requirements may have
been defensible when corn was plentiful and using it as a fuel additive gave
governments an easy way to cut fossil fuel emissions. Neither is true today.
Corn prices are soaring after a severe drought in the U.S. Midwest and parts of
Canada. It is now clear that converting corn into ethanol uses as much energy
as it saves.
The UN Food and Agriculture
Organization has urged governments to suspend their ethanol requirements. Beef,
pork, poultry and dairy farmers, who depend on corn to feed their livestock,
are pleading for relief. And carmakers, who never liked ethanol in the first
place — it reduces fuel efficiency — are renewing their complaints.
At the moment, the issue is
on the periphery of the North American political agenda. But as consumers see
sharp increases in their grocery bills — as early as next month — opposition to
the use of food for fuel is sure to rise. Some U.S. pundits expect that to
happen in the final leg of the presidential race. If they’re right, Canada
won’t be far behind.
For Harper, this poses a
political dilemma. Ethanol has been a boon for grain farmers, creating a new
market for their produce, raising crop prices and generating a new income
stream. Oil refiners like it, too. It allows them to buy field corn at wholesale
prices — still much cheaper than sweet crude — and sell it at gasoline prices.
Most environmentalists support increased use of ethanol. And the still-powerful
Canadian Renewable Fuels Associations staunchly defends the use of ethanol in
gasoline.
Livestock and dairy
producers, on the other hand, are struggling to feed their animals. Carmakers,
who are required to meet ever-more-stringent fuel efficiency requirements,
accused policy-makers of hampering them with ethanol-laced gasoline. Consumers
are beginning to question the wisdom of burning food in car engines.
Forty per cent of America’s
corn crop — 30 per cent of Canada’s — is used for ethanol. The percentage will
go up if Washington’s Environmental Protection Agency succeeds in its bid to
raise the ethanol content of gasoline to 15 per cent, a move Canada would
support, according to an aide to Environment Minister Peter Kent.
If all this seems distant,
look no farther than Oshawa to see a community torn apart by ethanol. City
council, backed by thousands of residents, is fighting fiercely to prevent
FarmTech Energy from building a $200-million ethanol refinery on their
waterfront. The chamber of commerce is eager for the 300 construction jobs and
economic spinoffs the plant would bring.
The federally controlled
Oshawa Port Authority approved the project at a private meeting last month.
There are allegations that several of its members have strong links to the
federal Conservative party. The mayor is calling for an ethics investigation.
It’s a lucky thing Corn Cob
Bob is no longer making the rounds of Ontario’s fall fairs and farmers’
markets. He’d probably get the odd ripe tomato in the eye.
Carol Goar is a news
services columnist.
