Biofuels Shaping the Future
That makes the biofuels boom vulnerable to the whims of the public and particularly politicians. Policies promoting biofuels could disappear anytime, with potentially disastrous consequences for the family farm and rural economy. However, because Congress is driving the biofuels industry, we also have the opportunity to insist that the biofuels revolution proceed in a manner that benefits the environment, the rural economy, and small towns across the Midwest.
The hard truth is current biofuels incentives and mandates are propelling the biofuels industry down an unsustainable path. Our ethanol incentives are contributing to a "boom" in the farm economy, but those incentives and policymakers are doing little to prepare for the nearly inevitable "bust". Not only that, current incentives do nothing to encourage protection of the land for future generations. Both of these trends are unfortunate, because the biofuels industry could help to build the future of rural America.
Those living in small towns know that all too often many of our young adults leave for educational opportunities, never to return. Biofuels and the renewable energy industry overall could capitalize on two of rural America's biggest assets- land and wind. And biofuels and wind power could be the industries of the future that create good-paying, knowledge-based jobs for the next generation of small town Americans. But for that to happen we must ensure these industries are built in a way that truly benefits rural America. We cannot let biofuels and renewable energy become yet another method of extracting wealth from rural areas.
Rural communities with little cause for hope in decades have seen real benefits from renewable energy, in particular wind power and ethanol production. Desperately needed jobs have been created in small towns across the Midwest, and that should be celebrated. But we should not be content with or simply fight to preserve the status quo. Now is the time for us to take the next step and revise our biofuels incentives, tying them to measures that ensure rural America realize the true benefits of the renewable energy revolution.
Currently, every gallon of ethanol produced receives a 51 cents per gallon tax credit that is paid to the oil company that blends it with regular gasoline. Why can't part or all of that tax credit be tied to local ownership of ethanol production? Locally-owned facilities provide far more benefit to the community than absentee corporate owners. Unfortunately, out of town corporate ownership is the prevailing trend in ethanol production today.
Tying the ethanol tax credit to local ownership is just one of the many ways we could help keep the benefits of biofuels and renewable energy in rural America. Now is the time to enact those ideas. Our current policies are inadequate to realize the true promise of the renewable energy industry. Instead of being defensive about biofuels, we should emphasize the benefits they can have for rural America, and all of America- and then enact policies that actually make sure those benefits materialize. Renewable energy and biofuels offer the greatest opportunity for rural America in generations. We can't afford to throw it away.
