Kerry
Outlines Plan for Energy, Talks About GMO Contamination
of Organic Crops
(Wednesday,
Aug. 18, 2004 -- CropChoice news) -- Bill Lambrecht,
St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
SMITHVILLE, Mo. - Sen. John Kerry left his campaign
train for a tour of corn country Friday to deliver a
pitch for a farmer-friendly, $30 billion energy plan
and for the votes of rural America.
On
his third day in Missouri on his trip to the West, Kerry
proposed doubling the amount of ethanol and farm-derived
fuels required in gasoline as part of a broad energy
proposal that he said can wean Americans off foreign
oil.
In
a discussion with farmers, the Democratic presidential
nominee also promised to appoint an attorney general
who would enforce antitrust laws in cases where corporate
consolidation of agribusiness might be illegal.
And
Kerry said he is considering an insurance program to
protect organic farmers against losses if their crops
intended for organic-only markets become dusted with
wind-blown pollen from genetically modified crops.
"If
your crop gets polluted by a GMO (genetically modified
organism) crop, poof, you're gone," Kerry remarked
while speaking on the farm of Jim and Ruth Nelson.
Kerry
later said during an interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
that he hadn't yet figured out how such an insurance
program should work.
"I
heard the number of farmers who said, 'Gee I'd like
to go do this (grow organic crops), but I'm afraid because
if I invest in the crop and it doesn't qualify as organic,
I lose the entire deal.' So I thought of an insurance
concept which says, 'OK, let's share the risk, share
the burden' ... I don't think it will be that hard to
pull off."
The
farm event near Smithfield, 25 miles north of Kansas
City, was tailor-made for TV with corn waving in a midday
breeze and farmers perched on hay bales. Sounding populist
themes, Kerry told the gathering that 60 percent of
farm subsidies go to 10 percent of farmers.
"There's
an awful lot of rural Missouri, Iowa and other states
where small farmers are just getting clobbered. Do you
know why? Sure you do. Because the big guys are getting
all the money because the system is tilted against the
small people," Kerry said.
In
his ambitious energy plan, Kerry embraced proposals
that would be of considerable benefit to the Midwest
if they passed Congress, among them a federal requirement
that 5 billion gallons of ethanol and other farm-based
fuels be produced for gasoline by 2012.
Kerry
said he also would seek to:
"
Devote $10 billion to research aimed at enabling utilities
to burn more high-sulfur coal, like that mined in Illinois,
cleanly.
" Commit $10 billion to speed the production of
autos powered by hydrogen fuel cells and give consumers
$5,000 tax incentives to help them purchase cars using
the technology.
" Spend as much as $10 billion over 10 years for
a partnership between government, farmers and industry
to develop an array of alternative fuels, as well as
to create jobs in clean-energy technology.
Kerry's
ethanol plan resembled provisions in a new energy bill
that almost passed the Congress last year. But it derailed
amid opposition both to more ethanol subsidies and a
controversial proposal to give immunity to producers
of MTBE, a gasoline additive found to pollute ground
water.
The
train that Kerry, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina,
and their families boarded at St. Louis Union Station
on Thursday left Kansas City on Friday night for an
all-night trip through Kansas en route to campaign events
in southeastern Colorado today.
In
response to Kerry's plan, Sen. Don Nickles, R-Okla.,
noted in a conference call with reporters Friday that
neither Kerry nor Edwards were on hand in the Senate
the day the energy bill failed by two votes.
"And
now today, he (Kerry) is out saying he wants all these
things, but when the votes were counted, he wasn't there
and had he been there, he would have voted the wrong
way ... Maybe it's campaign conversion," Nickles
said.
Kerry
could expect hurdles in Congress to another proposal
-- extending to 2020 tax breaks for renewable fuels.
Critics see those tax provisions, set to expire in 2007,
as costly subsidies of dubious value that often enrich
political donors.
Keith
Ashdown, an analyst for Taxpayers for Common Sense,
a Washington-based advocacy group, remarked that presidential
candidates often try to outdo one another to promote
ethanol because of the importance of the Midwestern
vote.
"It
makes good sense in the Electoral College, but unfortunately
it doesn't make much sense in terms of achieving energy
independence," he said.
Kerry
noted that oil prices hit historic highs this week of
$44 per barrel. He contended that somewhere between
$8 and $15 of that can be attributed to global instability,
which he blamed in part on the Bush administration's
policies.
Kerry
remarked that both he and Edwards had ordered the forthcoming
2005 Ford Escape hybrid, which conserves fuel by using
an electric motor along with a gas-powered engine.
"You
want to drive a great big SUV? Terrific. Terrific. That's
America. But don't you think it's better to drive one
that is more fuel-efficient and saves you money?"
he said.
Crop
Choice
|
