<![CDATA[Grist - Comment Feed for Offers boldest plan of any candidate]]> Grist Comment Feed en Comment #1 by TariffDude http://www.grist.org/article/vilsack-comes-out-strong-on-energy/ Fri, 16 Feb 2007 05:07:19 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/vilsack-comes-out-strong-on-energy/1 Let's look at the record...

I live in Iowa.  Trust me, it's not pretty.  Ok, I don't pay a lot of attention to gubernatorial politics, but as far as I know Vilsack never addressed the most important environmental problems facing this state in a meaningful way as governor.

Unless he's willing to admit that the way of life in Iowa is a heinous perversion of the way things ought to be, instead of holding onto the myth of a pastoral ethos, he's full of it.  It's only possible to think that way until you've seen and smelled this place, and he has seen and smelled it.  Construing Iowan ethanol production as good for the environment is dishonest.

What I am getting at: the dude ain't for real.  All power-plants carbon-free by 2020?  Promissory one-upmanship.  An all likelihood cynical BS.  

]]> Let's look at the record...

I live in Iowa.  Trust me, it's not pretty.  Ok, I don't pay a lot of attention to gubernatorial politics, but as far as I know Vilsack never addressed the most important environmental problems facing this state in a meaningful way as governor.

Unless he's willing to admit that the way of life in Iowa is a heinous perversion of the way things ought to be, instead of holding onto the myth of a pastoral ethos, he's full of it.  It's only possible to think that way until you've seen and smelled this place, and he has seen and smelled it.  Construing Iowan ethanol production as good for the environment is dishonest.

What I am getting at: the dude ain't for real.  All power-plants carbon-free by 2020?  Promissory one-upmanship.  An all likelihood cynical BS.  

]]> Comment #2 by Ron Steenblik http://www.grist.org/article/vilsack-comes-out-strong-on-energy/ Sat, 17 Feb 2007 02:03:59 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/vilsack-comes-out-strong-on-energy/2 That will be $380,000,000,000, please, sir

Do these guys ever cost out their proposals? Tom Vilsack says nothing in his plan about eliminating the current 51-cents-per-gallon federal tax credit for ethanol, so one must presume that the proposed 25-cents-per-gallon federal tax credit for the production of cellulosic ethanol would be an additional subsidy.

Let's assume that President Bush's target 35-billion-gallons-a-year "alternative fuel standard" is met in 2017, and that Presidential candidate Tom Vilsack's 60-billion-gallons-a-year is met by 2030, all by ethanol. (Note: biodiesel attracts an even higher per-gallon subsidy than ethanol.) Assume that corn ethanol will max out at 15 billion gallons a year by 2010, and that all future growth would come from cellulosic ethanol. So, from then on, 15 billion gallons a year would benefit from a $0.51/gallon tax credit, and all the rest from a $0.76/gallon (=$0.51 + $0.25) tax credit.

The total cost to the U.S. Treasury -- i.e., taxpayers -- between now and 2030?: $380 billion. And the annual subsidy rate by the end of that period would have reached $41,900,000,000 a year. Try pulling the plug on that kind of (corporate) welfare once it's in place.

]]> That will be $380,000,000,000, please, sir

Do these guys ever cost out their proposals? Tom Vilsack says nothing in his plan about eliminating the current 51-cents-per-gallon federal tax credit for ethanol, so one must presume that the proposed 25-cents-per-gallon federal tax credit for the production of cellulosic ethanol would be an additional subsidy.

Let's assume that President Bush's target 35-billion-gallons-a-year "alternative fuel standard" is met in 2017, and that Presidential candidate Tom Vilsack's 60-billion-gallons-a-year is met by 2030, all by ethanol. (Note: biodiesel attracts an even higher per-gallon subsidy than ethanol.) Assume that corn ethanol will max out at 15 billion gallons a year by 2010, and that all future growth would come from cellulosic ethanol. So, from then on, 15 billion gallons a year would benefit from a $0.51/gallon tax credit, and all the rest from a $0.76/gallon (=$0.51 + $0.25) tax credit.

The total cost to the U.S. Treasury -- i.e., taxpayers -- between now and 2030?: $380 billion. And the annual subsidy rate by the end of that period would have reached $41,900,000,000 a year. Try pulling the plug on that kind of (corporate) welfare once it's in place.

]]> Comment #3 by Nucbuddy http://www.grist.org/article/vilsack-comes-out-strong-on-energy/ Sat, 17 Feb 2007 02:23:33 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/vilsack-comes-out-strong-on-energy/3 Governor Tom Vilsack on the Nuclear Renaissance

cfr.org/publication/11716/conversation_with_governor_tom_vilsack.html

VILSACK: I did mention nuclear, and I think it's important and necessary for us to have a more enlightened view about that in the long term if we're really--and I think the way we begin that process is by focusing on the environmental benefits, long term, of that strategy

]]> Governor Tom Vilsack on the Nuclear Renaissance

cfr.org/publication/11716/conversation_with_governor_tom_vilsack.html

VILSACK: I did mention nuclear, and I think it's important and necessary for us to have a more enlightened view about that in the long term if we're really--and I think the way we begin that process is by focusing on the environmental benefits, long term, of that strategy

]]> Comment #4 by Delay And Deny http://www.grist.org/article/vilsack-comes-out-strong-on-energy/ Mon, 19 Feb 2007 05:12:50 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/vilsack-comes-out-strong-on-energy/4 Let My People Go...Vote


Vilsack's major "contribution" to legislature seems to have been given convicted felons the right to vote.

He'd fit right in with Obama and Clinton and pave the way for ground breaking work in letting terrorists and criminals ransack America.

The Texeme Construct offers international text memetics construction and textcasting services.



]]> Let My People Go...Vote


Vilsack's major "contribution" to legislature seems to have been given convicted felons the right to vote.

He'd fit right in with Obama and Clinton and pave the way for ground breaking work in letting terrorists and criminals ransack America.

The Texeme Construct offers international text memetics construction and textcasting services.



]]> Comment #5 by Biodiversivist http://www.grist.org/article/vilsack-comes-out-strong-on-energy/ Mon, 19 Feb 2007 05:13:47 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/vilsack-comes-out-strong-on-energy/5 Ron, makes an excellent point

Politicians are gas bags. He sees ethanol as a ticket to the white house and is tossing out numbers to the masses who have no idea of the true ramifications.

"Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it." -Mark Twain

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

]]> Ron, makes an excellent point

Politicians are gas bags. He sees ethanol as a ticket to the white house and is tossing out numbers to the masses who have no idea of the true ramifications.

"Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it." -Mark Twain

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

]]>