Letters - Friday

ENERGY ISSUES
Don't blame ethanol production for hikes in cost of food

    The production of E85 does not take food off the world market as some people and the oil companies would like you to think ("The ethics of a bad fuel," Our View, June 25). The fermentation process removes only the starch in the corn. What's left is a high-protein food cattle just love. None of it is wasted.

    Poor government policy does cause problems. Take the 36 million acres of American farm land our government pays to be unplanted each year. Yes, your tax dollars pay farmers not to plant. These acres are on 10-year contracts and a farmer with land in this program cannot plant until the contract is up. Do you want to help world hunger? Suspend these contracts and allow the acres to be planted.

    The cost of oil is a major driver in the cost of food, and anything that can moderate the cost of oil would help stabilize food costs. Ethanol could do that if more people would use it.

    New things on the horizon will make E85 much more cost and carbon effective. Thousands of acres in Oklahoma and other parts of the country are being planted with switch grass. Switch-grassproduced ethanol yields five times the amount of energy as it takes to produce it. That is even better than cane used in Brazil. Switch grass is a native grass to the American plains. It does not need to be replanted each year, uses less fertilizer and it allows for the natural habitat for wildlife. It is a win-win. Corn is not the best source of ethanol, but using it will allow us to develop better sources.

    Every ton of carbon taken out of the ground is a ton that will never be put back. Ethanol production and use recycles carbon already in the atmosphere. Which seems smarter? Yes, ethanol needs more development to become more efficient, so let's give it a chance.

    Yes, the federal government subsidizes E85, but foreign oil subsidizes terrorism. Take your pick.

    Iran is the world's fourth largest oil producer. Every time you fill up with gasoline you are subsidizing terrorism. Even though we do not directly buy oil from Iran, all oil is sold on a global market and its cost is driven up by our demand.

    In the final analysis, E85 from corn is good for now. E85 from switch grass is better and bringing back the electric car is best. With more wind and solar electricity becoming available it can become totally emission free. Making the jump from gasoline to electric will be extremely difficult given the amount of our economy and government that are buoyed by oil. The problem hindering the electric car is the inability to collect taxes by states and the federal government, not to mention the many jobs, infrastructure and investments supported by the oil business. There is not a painless fix, but delaying the development of other sources will only make things worse later.

    Which will it be? Government subsidies for American farmers or subsidizing foreign terrorists who want to destroy us? Which one is more ethical? You choose every time you fill up. Do you want to help world hunger? Pressure your government representatives to drop the contracts that keep millions of acres out of production.

Bryan Raile, Colorado Springs

Blame obstructionist Republicans for lack of energy solutions

    This is a response to the June 22 Our View, "Oil: It's the new rage."

    Let's just look at facts.

    According to the Energy Information Administration if drilling were approved by Congress production in ANWR would not begin until 2018. Cumulative production between 2018 and 2030 would amount to 2.6 billion barrels. Since we currently import 5 billion barrels a year this would amount to a proverbial drop in the bucket. Too little, too late.

    The Gazette's attempts to blame Democrats for the problem are misguided as well. Last week, a bill to extend tax credits of $17.7B for alternative energy was killed by the obstructionist Republicans in the Senate.

    Moving out swiftly on conservation, sustainable energy and alternative solutions is the only sane way out of this mess. Democrats, not Republicans are leading the way.

Steve Bremner, Manitou Springs

Alternative fuel sources, not oil, will power economy in future

    There have been several articles and political cartoons in recent days dealing with oil and criticizing those who oppose off-shore drilling and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. All these focus on short-term solutions. Not one mentions realistic and far more effective solutions for reducing our dependence on oil, not just foreign oil. Raising CAFE standards for fuel efficiency for all vehicles by 10 mpg would save more oil in 10 years than is contained in all of ANWR. Also, consumers or the government could demand that auto manufacturers start producing plug-in hybrids or, even better, electric vehicles.

    All of the major manufacturers produced a zero-emissions electric vehicle to meet California's zero-emission mandate in the mid 1990s, and conversions can be done for just about every vehicle model currently. Since the ‘90s, battery technology has improved significantly, allowing vehicles to get almost 300 miles per charge.

    While increasing domestic drilling and asking Saudi Arabia to increase output might temporarily reduce fuel prices, they are only temporary solutions that postpone the inevitable. To truly have a longterm impact we need to get away from oil and fossil fuels entirely.

Aaron Horner, Woodland Park

EDUCATING FUTURE LEADERS
Teaching ethics must be more than threatening consequences

    The June 20, 2008 editorial piece on the film "Haze" was excellent, as far as it went ("New normal on campus"). Like so many recent social commentaries, it implied that the subject of values begins and ends with "consequences." That's not true.

    Understanding consequences is the most primitive level of moral development. At this level, people weigh their selfish desires against the risks of getting caught with no real appreciation of rules.

    The next highest level is understanding rules and that rules should be followed. The limitation at this level is that people mechanically follow rules and aren't able to reason their way through a moral dilemma.

    The highest level of moral development involves an understanding of why rules and values exist. For example, that society is a cooperative effort and for it to work, people must be able to work together and trust each other.

    The loutish college students described in "Haze" don't even operate at the level of consequences. Compare this with the actions of the middle school Boy Scouts after the tornado in Iowa. I don't think you will get the best and the brightest leaders of our country by limiting education in ethics and morals to the level of "there are consequences."

Michael Schmidt, Colorado Springs

GUANTANAMO DETAINEES
Extending habeas rights trumps centuries of legal precedent

    Erik Eckhoff 's and Fred Kormos' willingness to extend habeas corpus to the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay exhibits a profound and dangerous ignorance of the legal system ("Right to challenge detention for all people, not only citizens;" "Real terrorists will stay locked up while the innocent can go free," Letters, June 18).

    The Supreme Court's bare 5-4 decision to expand habeas to cover the prisoners in Cuba is a blatant usurpation of the War Powers Act and unprecedented judicial nullification of procedures meticulously crafted by both elected branches of the government. The court completely disregarded more than two centuries of decisions that explicitly ruled habeas is unavailable to aliens captured abroad. The most important question, however, is this: what competence does the court have to second-guess the judgment of Congress and the president?

    In his dissent Justice Antonin Scalia wrote that the ruling "will almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed." Unfortunately, he is correct.

    Perhaps, now that the Supreme Court has extended constitutional protections to suspected terrorists, the attorney general can use Article 3, Section 3 of the Constitution to charge foreigners who wage war against America with treason. This is the absurdity the court has created.

Donald D. Wonders, Falcon