Corny Oil Debate
With crude oil prices rising at unprecedented rates it is in the interest of the future of America to become energy independent as quickly as possible. How we get there seems to be the point of contention. One group would like us to grow corn to be used for fuel and another group wants us to drill and extract our oil from within our own shores. Biofuel made from corn is like a new wonder drug that is supposed to save us. Like drugs it has consequential side effects. First, corn produced biofuel will supply only 12 percent of our transportation needs. Secondly, the price of our corn-based food will skyrocket. We will face the choice of filling our gas tanks or putting food in our children's mouths. On the news that the president wanted to raise the corn-based ethanol production the price of a barrel of corn rose to more than $3, up from $2 and wheat has more than doubled to nearly $9 a barrel. Cows, pigs and chickens eat grain to produce milk, eggs and meat. Is it any wonder the price of dairy products is rising so rapidly? It is estimated that there is nearly a trillion barrels of recoverable oil-shale deposits beneath Utah, Wyoming and Colorado. In ANWAR there is more that 4 billion barrels ready to be drilled. Just like the price of corn rising rapidly, the price of Mid East oil would drop like a rock if we said that we were going to start using our own resources. A side effect would be putting more Americans to work at very well paying jobs. Competition is a beautiful thing. We need to build nuclear power plants and develop hydrogen and electric vehicles to satisfy our lifestyle of freedom. Until then we do not need to suffer by raising the price of our food. This will only widen the gap between the rich and poor. We cannot fight oil with corn. American ingenuity and the free market will develop solutions to solve our energy dilemma, if the government gets out of the way.
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