Ethanol Fight & Revamping the Deposit

Monday Jun 13th, 2011 34 Views Northwest Report

Ethanol Fight & Revamping the Deposit plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

The ethanol industry is facing a double pronged attack in the U.S. Senate with amendments to an economic development bill. Renewable Fuels Association president and CEO Bob Dinneen explains.

DINEEN: Senator Coburn last night sort of surprised everybody and went to the floor and substituted an amendment that he had on the bill that affected green house gases with an amendment to just eliminate the ethanol tax incentive immediately. Senator McCain then went down to the floor to prevent us from second degree-ing the amendment with something that might be more constructive and he added a second degree that would eliminate the ability to spend any money on ethanol infrastructure.

Gov. John Kitzhaber has signed a bill revamping Oregon's bottle deposit system.
The bill signed Thursday will make the deposit system apply to just about any glass, metal or plastic beverage container, effective by 2018. The existing law requires a deposit for plastic water and soda bottles but not for nearly identical iced tea bottles. The measure also increases the current nickel deposit to a dime if redemption falls below 80 percent for two consecutive years. The bill will decrease litter and improve recycling.

Now with today’s Food Forethought, here’s Lacy Gray.

Will the largest challenge we face in the future of food production be the ever ballooning world population, the lack of natural resources, or available farm land, or the combination of all those? More than likely, if it continues on its current course, the ever popular anti-biotechnology mindset will be the major factor in sealing the fate of the world’s hungry and ensuring a world wide food crisis for generations to come. There should be no argument that GM technology should be tested before it is put into the mainstream of food production, and labeled as such once there; everyone has the right to know where their food comes from and how it was produced. What should be argued loud and long is the refusal to put GM technology to use for the world’s hungry. Hopefully more and more people will recognize the good GM crops can provide. And perhaps generations from now people will look back on our inexplainable fear of genetically modified foods in appalled and baffled wonderment, rather like we do now when regarding the fear and hysteria recorded in the history pages over the development of life saving vaccines.

Thanks Lacy. For great buys on Farm Equipment visit BigIron.com’s internet auctions. Every second and fourth Wednesdays. That’s today’s Northwest Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.