06/15/07 Beware Fake Toothpaste & the Senate Bombs again

It appears the Senate is two for two. Last weeks failure to pass key immigration legislation is being followed by their failure to pull together bi-partisan support for a renewable energy bill. The proposal would require power companies to increase use of wind turbines, solar panels, biomass, geothermal energy or other renewable sources to produce at least 15 percent of their electricity by 2020. Only about 2.4 percent of the country's electricity is produced that way now. But Senate Democrats ran into strong Republican opposition and each side has retreated to neutral corners to try and develop a compromise package. Idaho Senator Larry Craig said this bill was on the money. CRAIG: 60 plus percent of our crude comes from foreign countries that are in some form of instability today or at high risk and our consumers suffer from that. There should be a lot about the future in any energy policy and there is in the Bingaman bill. The Colgate-Palmolive Company is warning consumers to look out for a counterfeit "Colgate" toothpaste that may contain a toxic chemical. So far the fake toothpaste has only appeared in 4 Eastern states but consumers are warned when buying toothpaste from discount stores, check the box to see if it says it was manufactured in South Africa. The box also has several misspellings. Like the warning recently about toothpaste from China, this toothpaste also contains diethylene glycol, a chemical used in anti-freeze. Now here's today's Washington Grange Report. (GRANGE) That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.