Wasted Material...

An article by the Rapid City Journal states that last-minute changes to a federal energy bill would disqualify cellulosic ethanol created using waste plant matter collected from national forests toward filling ethanol mandates. Read more here…

In a time of volatile fuel prices and dependency on foreign fuels, it seems crazy to not utilize and encourage use of the resources we have, particularly in the promising area of cellulosic ethanol, which is packed with much more energy than corn-based ethanol. If we can turn waste material into fuel to power our state, we should not be throwing up senseless roadblocks in the way of that goal.

We need to incentivize new and better ways of producing energy, not generate loopholes that create barriers to progress in nonsensical ways. Black Hills National Forest and other national parks have the opportunity to contribute toward weaning the country off of fossil fuels, but not if we do not maintain an environment that encourages alternative fuel production.