05/07/08 Choosing Idaho & Halting Ethanol

Choosing Idaho & Halting Ethanol plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. The French-based AREVA company has selected Bonneville County, Idaho, as the site of its $2 billion first U.S. uranium enrichment plant. Senator Mike Crapo says this is a very positive decision. CRAPO: Areva is a natural fit for Idaho because both the INL and Areva are world leaders in nuclear research and technology and this announcement is a credit to the Idaho National Laboratory personnel whose proven record of hard work, dedication and skills opened the door to our landing this facility. Meanwhile Washington Congressman Doc Hastings said he was quote, "very disappointed because the local community did such an outstanding job and we got no leadership from Olympia. AREVA is one of the leading global suppliers of enriched uranium for use in commercial nuclear reactors. GOP presidential nominee John McCain of Arizona and 23 other U.S. Senators, all Republicans, have urged the Environmental Protection Agency to halt the expansion of ethanol production in an effort to provide relief to higher food prices around the world. But, Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, Chairman of the Senate Ag Committee, says the request would cut short the promise of biofuels for our nation's energy security and is without merit. In fact, he says EPA should look to expand the RFS to 36 billion gallons by 2022. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Lacy Gray. It has to be one of the major "well, duh" moments in recent food safety history. Searching to come up with a solution to combat the ever growing concerns over food safety and traceability Forbes.com stated in a recent article that "the flow of raw materials and ingredients should be tracked from producers to the manufacturer, and then the finished product would be followed through the distribution process to the retailer; meaning food companies would be able to track their products from field to fork." It seems so obvious and simple. But just how easy a traceability solution would be to implement remains to be seen. Should it have been put into practice years ago, most definitely. Recent surveys have reported that US consumer confidence in the safety of the food supply has dropped drastically in just this last year alone. Not only would food supply traceability be the "socially responsible" thing to do, it would also be just "darn good business". Perhaps if such traceability had been in effect companies such as Topps meat would still be in business. Thanks Lacy. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.