Jonah Goldberg in his infinite wisdom posted a column Saturday, June 19, stating that oil is the true "green" fuel. Why in the world would he make such a statement? Is he on drugs? His rationale is that  the BP spill is not as bad as the pollution from farm fertilizer run-off in the gulf that creates dead zones.

He goes on to say that growing corn to produce ethanol as a substitute for oil takes water and land from the production of food. Furthermore he states that we will lose $1 trillion in economic benefits, which he fails to enumerate. Next he states we will have to buy most of our oil from foreign producers. Finally he says that bio fuels are inefficient and costly and would require 30% more land to replace oil for transportation and would encourage the destruction of rain forests in countries like Brazil.

Charles E Grassley, R-Iowa, blocked the removal of a tariff of 54 cents per gallon on ethanol, most of which comes from Brazil. This protectionist move was for the benefit of his Iowa corn farmer constituents, but not the American public. Of all the materials from which ethanol can be made, corn is the worst. It costs $8.00 per gallon to make and uses tons of water to grow and process.It also requires fossil fuels to make and refine.  It inflates the price of corn and corn by-products....

I have written before about the water crisis we are facing. It may make the energy crisis look like child's play. We can invent substitutes for gas and oil but we can't invent a substitute for water. It is essential for all living things. Not only that, it is vital to growing food and manufacturing all manner of things.