http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-luft16-2009apr16,0,2388173.story
This op-ed in the Los Angeles Times is worth a read. Written by Gal Luft, executive director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, the piece gets it exactly right on the proposed Low Carbon Fuel Standard in California - the plan puts biofuels at a competitive disadvantage over petroleum.
The California Air Resources Board could be in a position to deliver a crippling blow to America's effort to gain energy independence, Luft says. CARB's plan counts both direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions toward biofuels, while counting only the direct emission of petroleum.
Luft's op-ed says that CARB explains no other significant indirect GHG effects have been identified for petroleum. What about pumping seawater into the oil wells in Saudi Arabia to increase reservoir pressure? What about transporting the crude to processing facilities and shipping it across two oceans? What about the massive military operations to protect oil supplies?
"Ignoring those factors while speculating about the role of deforestation (much of the deforestation around the world has nothing to do with biofuels but with the logging industry) is intellectually dishonest," Luft writes.
Recent Comments