Everyone is getting on the biofuels band wagon, which is more than a bit self-serving for the junior Senator from Illinois. One wonders if he is innumerate, like most of the rest of our population. Do the math, Barack, we do not have enough land mass to grow biofuel and food, regardless of the alleged (and highly dubious) positive energy yield biofuel proponents profess, we'd need something on the order of three additional continents, each the size of the US, to seriously produce the amount of fuel we consume today, not to mention what we are likely to consume next year. At best, biofuels might have a limited utility as a boutique fuel, produced on farms to power farm machinery. I can only conclude that Senator Obama is either an innumerate fool or just another self-serving politician, perhaps both. Don't be deceived by his smile and posturing. And next time you interview him, ask him how he could vote for the Bankruptcy bill and still style himself a progressive.

Most sincerely,
Alec Johnson

I support significant increases in CAFE standards. But we've brought that to the floor again and again and again, and we can't get it passed in its current iteration. I was one of the cosponsors of the amendment to the energy bill last year -- we just couldn't get enough votes. Including, unfortunately, two of our Democratic senators from Michigan, because they're concerned about the auto industry. No matter how much you want to talk about the big picture, people still think very locally.

But it strikes me now, as I think about ethanol and the associated CAFE loophole (Disucssed previously on Gristmill) that his proposal is actually, effectively, cutting CAFE.

E85 cars get a CAFE credit, more E85 cars (all cars made E85 compliant?) will reduce the effective CAFE requirement for all manufacturers, yes?

Our transportation energy problem cannot be solved by seeking substitute fuels that will allow us to go on doing what we are doing. Our only salvation is to radically reduce our demand for gasoline.

Howard Wilshire