They can do it, why can’t we?

Now that global warming and all associated environmental issues are officially the problem of who we elect in November – as President Bush continues to spend his remaining days in office trolling the country for no reason save his own amusement – ethanol may very well rise even higher in the national dialogue than it has already. In fact, The US Energy Department chimed in on the subject this week, discouraging ideas about rolling back the ethanol mandate because “any reduction in the renewable fuel standard would sap investment in biofuel technology and undermine efforts to wean the nation off oil and reduce greenhouse gases.”

The idea that corn ethanol should remain as a reason to build up an infrastructure for ethanol processing, which could then be tweaked for different (perhaps cellulosic) fuel sources, is one we’ve heard bandied about recently, and we think it has legs. It’ll be easier to modify an existing model for ethanol processing when cellulosic and other waste ethanol sources are sustainable, if only because we’ll be able to keep pace with technological advances in the field. Some environmental groups think a freeze on the mandate is a good window for examining its long-term environmental effects, which is the sanest idea they’ve put forth yet, but Bush is already stalling on the issue. We don’t need more people encouraging him.

Meanwhile, Brazil and Indonesia have agreed to share ideas regarding ethanol production. “Brazil has been successful in developing bio-ethanol,” said Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhyon, “and of course Indonesia can learn at the research and development.” Indonesia has been hit pretty hard by rising oil prices, so it makes sense that they’d be scrambling for a biofuels program. While both countries have, shall we say, a reputation for tolerating questionable working conditions, and there’s certainly corruption mildewing between their government and business interests, it’s nice to see that their various corporate oligarchs don’t trip over each other all the time, like ours do.