Two new studies cast doubt on whether ethanol and other biofuels are an environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuels in addressing climate change. The studies, published in the prestigious journal Science, for the first time take into account the environmental costs of worldwide pressure to convert natural areas to cropland to grow corn and other plants for biofuels.
Clearing the land by burning or plowing releases greenhouse gases, as do refinement and transportation of the fuel. Moreover, the loss of natural areas, whether rain forest or scrubland, makes the land less able to absorb carbon.
“When you take this into account, most of the biofuel that people are using or planning to use would probably increase greenhouse gases substantially,†said Timothy Searchinger of Princeton University, lead author of one of the studies.
Time to take a hard look at all those ethanol subsidies in the farm bill.
It’s no secret that the Bush administration botched post-invasion Iraq planning, but a 2005 RAND Corp. study detailing those failures has been kept under wraps by the Army, the New York Times reported.
The nonpartisan study found widespread incompetence and lack of coordination among Iraq war planners.
President Bush and then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice come in for criticism for failing to resolve agency disputes: “Throughout the planning process, tensions between the Defense Department and the State Department were never mediated by the president or his staff,†the study said. Central Command head Gen. Tommy Franks was found to have a “fundamental misunderstanding†of the military’s role in securing postwar Iraq.
Overall, “there was never an attempt to develop a single national plan that integrated humanitarian assistance, reconstruction, governance, infrastructure development and postwar security,†the study said.
Why was the unclassified report never released?
“The Army leaders who were involved did not want to take the chance of increasing the friction with Secretary Rumsfeld,†said one military official, who asked not to be identified.
On NBC’s “Meet the Press†Sunday, host Tim Russert had three “gotcha†moments in interviewing Mike Huckabee about his seeming flip-flops on a federal smoking ban, the Cuban trade embargo and anti-tax pledges.
Huckabee, who has said both that he would sign a national smoking ban and that he prefers that states and communities decide the issue, told Russert he would sign a federal law “if it were about a clean air workplace, not about banning smoking. Because the point is . . . that you’re not telling an individual what he or she can’t do, you’re saying what you cannot do is to infringe upon the right of another to have clean air.â€
After “working to lift the failed embargo†as Arkansas governor to help that state’s rice producers, he switched sides, he acknowledged to Russert. “The more I became familiar with the oppression of Cuba, and as I visited with many of the Cuban-American leaders in Florida, I realized that my position was, frankly, rather shortsighted, and it was based on my rather local agricultural concerns rather than the more important concerns of Cuba’s oppressive regime. So I had to recognize that the embargo did have an important effect and should be kept.â€
On why he signed an anti-tax pledge, just 33 days after telling Russert last year that he wouldn’t, Huckabee said: “The reason I ended up signing the pledge, after I met with Grover Norquist for Americans for Tax Reform, realized that what I was signing was to say that we would not raise marginal tax rates.â€
He added: “I realized that my position had to mature in each of these areas.†Mature or flip-flop?
It’s the season to start assessing which names would best fit together not just politically but on the tongue and bumper sticker: McCain-Huckabee is sounding less cumbersome by the day. McCain-Pawlenty would take some getting used to. Clinton-Clark has a nice alliteration to it. One Salon reader had strong words for the prospect of a Obama-Sebelius pairing, though: “sounds like the name of an obscure newly discovered comet. Or a fungus.â€
Just be glad that Schwarzenegger isn’t an option.
The Wall Street Journal’s “bye-ku†for Mitt Romney:
“The data are in
“After long consultation
“The candidate’s outâ€
Two new studies cast doubt on whether ethanol and other biofuels are an environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuels in addressing climate change. The studies, published in the prestigious journal Science, for the first time take into account the environmental costs of worldwide pressure to convert natural areas to cropland to grow corn and other plants for biofuels.
