Randy explains, as only Randy can.
A review of one of Rubber-Stampin Randy’s Town Hall Meetings, from the Wellsville Daily Reporter, gave us this wonderful lead-in to justifying his Brazil trip: (emphasis mine)
ALLENTOWN — In a town where oil wells were once a familiar sight in front yards, Town of Allen residents complained to Congressman John R. “Randy†Kuhl, R-29th., during his recent round of town meetings, about high gas prices, heating costs and the need for alternative fuels.
(snip)
But that prompted Kuhl to say he will be traveling to South America next week, specifically to Brazil where the government mandates vehicles get 50 miles per gallon and where the energy industry has met the government’s demand for alternative fuels by using ethanol.
(snip)
Not going south of the border for the T-shirt, Kuhl added that he wants to learn how Brazil made its program work. “We need to develop the industry, I want to be fully informed.â€
So, there you have it, folks. Randy will not come back with a T-shirt, but he will come back fully informed. I feel so much better just knowing that. Phew, now I know my tax dollars are being well spent. Thanks Randy.
So Randy is off to Brazil. Congressional folks go on trips, fact finding trips all the time.
Who is really paying for it and making all the arrangements? The Sugar cane lobby? Some other interest? or our tax dollars? That is the real question.
The story here is you don’t need to go to Brazil to see that their government mandated fuel standards to 50 MPG. Where is Randy on fuel efficiency?
Whether or not they use sugar can or corn - does it matter from viewing a manufacturing plant? There is a chemical process right? Loads of raw materials (cane or corn) are processed into ethanol. Sure one is more efficient from a fuel perspective (per other posts the commenters) but it is like taking a tour of a brewery - what do you really see? Railway cars full of hops, copper vats a huge refrigerated room, and a really cool bottling line.
If you read the rest of the article ladkiddo links to check out this exchange -
There is circular logic in that exchange.
Thanks, Stlo7. I have been saying this as well. But unless Randy truly has a change of heart and agrees that alternative fuels and 50mpg is necessary, this trip is a waste of time. Everyone knows that our supply of fossil fuel is limited, and the demand globally is rising. And even if Randy truly changes his mind and moves in the direction of alternative energy, he needs to convince the other troglodytes in his party, all of whom we have to thank for our frightening dependence on foreign oil.
Since we’ve been talking about sugarcane ethanol, here’s a little info from Rolling Stone:
The other problem with producing corn ethanol to increase our fuel supply is that it would move large amounts of corn needed for our food supply into the energy supply, thus raising the price of food.
And the cost of Jack Daniels
Not even.
Simply put: you cannot create enough Ethanol to power our needs as they sit right now, even if you turned over every, single, stinking square foot of land to the production of Ethanol. It cannot be done, even if you use the higher-output switchgrass or grain sorgum options.
The only discussion that matters is not what we use for fuel, but how we efficiently use the fuel we have. If we didn’t use so much, gasoline would be fine and dandy, even with dwindling supplies.
Did you guys see this article in the Washington Post about this trip? This is UN-FREAKING-BELIEVABLE!!! He’s taking river tours of the Amazon and staying in treetop hotels!!!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/01/AR2007110102290.html
[...] I thought we had a clear picture of what Randy’s jaunt to Brazil was all about, but now I’m not so sure. This article in [...]